The debate for the Sao Paulo mayorship got heated on Sunday night after one of six candidates smashed a metal chair into another candidate.
The Associated Press reported during the debate that Pablo Marcal (a former TV host turned politician who is now a right-wing political influencer) spoke about allegations made against Jose Luiz Datena.
Marcal told Datena that he wanted to slap Marcal, and added, “You are not man enough to do it.”
The live video showed Dataa walking towards Marcal’s podium, a metal chair atop his head. He then slammed into Marcal as he raised both arms.
The moderator of TV Cultura’s debate interrupted the event immediately after the attack and switched to commercials. Later, Marcal was not present for the debate that resumed Sunday night.
Marcal, rather than continuing the debate, was taken to the hospital by ambulance where he received respiratory support.
He told his followers on Monday that he had a fracture at the bottom of his ribcage and felt pain when breathing.
In a press release, hospital officials stated that Marcal had suffered “traumas to the right chest area and right wrist with no major complications associated,” adding that Marcal was discharged.
Marcal called it an “attempted murder” on social media. He even compared it to the attempted killing of the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and the assassination attempt of the former US President Trump.
The Associated Press reported that an investigation into Datena’s alleged misconduct did not result in any charges. Instead, the matter was dropped after the accuser retracted the statements.
The allegations against Dataa have also been denied by the company.
After the debate, Datena said to reporters that the incident had been painful because he believed it caused his mother-in-law to suffer from a series of strokes and then die.
Dataa admitted to making a mistake in the debate on Monday, but he did not regret it.
“If circumstances were identical, I would repeat the gesture. It is an extreme reaction to the history of aggression committed against me and others by my opponent,” he said.
The campaign team of Marcal said that the debate shouldn’t have continued without him and they hope that legal action is taken against Datena.
The incident was reported to the Sao Paulo public security agency on Sunday night as a “bodily injury” and an “insult.” The matter is under investigation.
