Woman Who Won Best Butt Contest in Brazil Demands President Temer Resign
The winner of Brazil's best butt pageant did not leave her political opinions behind.
Twenty-eight-year-old model Rosie Oliveira of the Amazonas state, crowned as the new Miss Bum Bum 2017, took the stage on Monday as she donned a costume while holding the Brazilian flag with the words "Fora Temer" — or "Get out Temer"— written all over it, Brazilian website IG Gente reported.
The reference was to Brazilian President Michel Temer, who assumed office in August, 2016, after Dilma Rousseff was ousted amid the "Operation Car Wash" graft probe, which uncovered a multi-billion-dollar bribery scandal at the state-run giant Petrobras. Former President Inácio Lula da Silva, once considered a revered leader in Latin American politics, also faced a criminal conviction last July.
Temer was also embroiled in a corruption scandal. Last June, Prosecutor-General Rodrigo Janot charged the president with accepting bribes, Reuters reported at the time. As a result, his popularity has recently hit a new low: In September, the Temer administration only reached three percent in one poll, and Temer's approval reached zero among people under 24, The Guardian reported.
Temer's unfavorable view among Brazilians has led to the creation of the phrase "Fora Temer." The tagline "has popped all over the country in the form of graffiti, posters, tweets, and in speeches, a shorthand for what many consider to be an illegitimate government," Paste Magazine wrote.
Despite being reviled by Brazilians, Temer has managed to remain in power thanks to the support of Brazil's financial market that approves of his austerity measures, including the privatization of government services, The Guardian added.
Before being named Miss Bum Bum, Oliveira told IG Gente that Temer was "trying to sell our [state of Amazonas]" after he attempted to remove environmental protections for an Amazon reserve, but the South American nation reinstated a mining ban in the area last month. "Amazonas is ours, Brazil is ours, and united we will win," Oliveira told The Huffington Post.
Oliveira's political positions were already displayed before. According to the Huffington Post, she wrote on her contestant page that her "biggest dream is that politics in Brazil improves, that we can have peace and guarantee health, education and security to all."
Brazil's Miss Bum Bum joins other beauty pageants that have highlighted social issues. Last week, Miss Peru 2017's main statistics shared by contestants was about violence against Peruvian women—not their own body measurements. The competition's initiative came at a time when women in the United States have spoken out against sexual misconduct by men in Hollywood, the media and the government, The New York Times reported.
