A "silliness", an "impulse", a "totally mistaken remark." This is how Pedro Bellintani Balleoti, 25, a student at Mackenzie Presbyterian University Law School, in São Paulo, classifies his two videos that caused an uproar right after Election Day. 

In one of them, recorded on Sunday (28th), Bellintani is shown inside a car, wearing a black t-shirt printed with president-elect Jair Bolsonaro's portrait, saying that he will "grab a knife, handgun, whatever, and I am dying to run into a good-for-nothing dude wearing red so I can kill him at once." He then continues, uttering racial slurs, saying that he will kill black people, and yells "it's the captain, f***ers!", in an allusion to Bolsonaro's military patent.

"It was a deplorable comment; I completely regret saying that, I had no idea how big this video would get. I was stricken and deeply sorry for the suffering I might have caused to all these people," he says. 

Bellintani says that the remarks were motivated by "resentment." He says he carries a feeling of injustice from the federal government," towards him and "other 55 million Brazilians."

"I ended up externalizing it in this completely unfortunate words, these wrong claims, towards people that had nothing to do with my rage. I'm not either a racist nor violent person. The people who know me can attest to my good behavior and my family upbringing. I am extremely distraught and even concerned with the effects that I could have caused to the affected people," he reiterates.
​
Bellintani was terminated from his internship in a law firm due to the episode. On Tuesday, (30), students from several departments at Mackenzie convened a protest rejecting his remarks and demanding action from the university.

In a statement, Mackenzie said that the opinions and behaviors expressed by the student are "vehemently disavowed" by the institution. Officials started a disciplinary review, during which Bellintani is suspended, and further action might be pursued.

Bellintani says that after the episode, he considers himself "apolitical."

^{Translated by NATASHA MADOV}

Read the article in the original language

(By Fernanda Canofre)