Although many have wanted to separate politics and sports, the two continue to find each other, in the case of Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar Jr.
On Thursday, the 30-year-old publicly stated his support for President Jair Bolsonaro as Brazil is having its elections on Sunday. Neymar appeared on a TikTok video singing Bolsonaro’s campaign song, lip-synching, “Vote, vote, and press ‘confirm’ for 22, that’s Bolsonaro.”
Nonetheless, Neymar’s appearance generated much controversy in Brazil, which is why the PSG star would have followed up his appearance on the video with a tweet calling out those who disagree with his political views on the upcoming election.
“They talk about democracy and a lot of things, but when someone has a different opinion they are attacked by the very people who talk about democracy,” Neymar tweeted on Friday. “Go figure.”
Falam em democracia e um montão de coisa, mas quando alguém tem um opinião diferente é atacado pelas próprias pessoas que falam em democracia. Vai entender 😂🤷🏽♂️
— Neymar Jr (@neymarjr) September 30, 2022
During Bolsonaro’s presidency, there was plenty of criticism for his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has killed more than 650,000 Brazilians. As a result, this is one of the reasons why Neymar received some pushback for his stance on supporting the current president.
On Sunday, Bolsonaro’s primary opponent at the polls will be former Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. Whichever candidate gets 50 percent plus one vote would win the election outright without needing a second-round runoff.
