In Brazil, the Leo Lins was sentenced to 8 years and 3 months of imprisonment due to the discriminatory jokes that he made on stage in 2022. About it reports The Washington Post .
During his speech, Linss allowed himself to ridicule representatives of a wide range of vulnerable social groups-blacks, people with disabilities, LGBT community, Jews, evangelists, residents of the poor in Brazil, as well as the deaf regions. One of his most outrageous jokes concerned the surgical translator:
"Which show could be more inclusive? I even hired a sign language translator to be able to offend deaf people," Link said from the stage.
The court in San Paulo found the comedian guilty of inciting racism, religious intolerance and discrimination. Judge Barbara de Lima Iseppi stressed that:
"Freedom of expression is not absolute and unlimited. When there is a confrontation between this principle and the principles of human dignity and equality, the latter should prevail."
The comedian has already stated the intention to challenge the sentence. In his address on YouTube, he stated that "Brazil turns into a country where decisions are made on emotions, not in dialogue."
In society, this decision has caused a contradictory reaction. Some of the public called the sentence an offensive to freedom of speech, and the other - a fair response to the language of hostility. Some politicians and comedians have been in defense of Lin, but many Brazilians believe that "a joke that humiliates others is no longer humor, but a bullying."
This is not the first scandal in Leo Link's career. In 2022, he was forced to pay compensation for the mother of the child with autism, and later joked about a child with hydrocephalus.
