Monark backs out on child pornography statement: ‘Chemical castration’

Bruno Aiub, better known as Monark, backtracked on a controversial statement, given last week during a chat on his podcast, Monark Talks. Last Thursday (11), he was interviewing youtuber Newman LM, when he said he didn’t know if anyone who consumed child pornography should be arrested.

“Pedophilia for me is perhaps the worst crime there is, whoever commits this act has to be arrested and chemically castrated, in my opinion,” he said on social media, after the passage in question caused a lot of controversy on the internet. “I didn’t say anything in that section that is happening, I just hadn’t thought about it yet, I believe that anyone who consumes this kind of thing has to be punished by the law.”

Monark also said he has been receiving death threats since the video went viral. “That’s what cancellers want, the higher moral beings,” she complained. “Tired of this society, where you live a normal life, do a lot of nice things to people, but then say something that can be distorted and turns into a monster that deserves to be burned at the stake.”

In the postcast, the subject arose when addressing the case of fellow youtuber PC Siqueira, who was the subject of an investigation (which proceeded in secret from the Justice) for allegedly sending the image of a naked child in a message to a friend. “Do you think PC Siqueira was a pedophile, for example?”, Monark asked the guest. “[Eu tenho] fear of lawsuit, but then, I don’t doubt it, I don’t know,” replied Newman.

“I don’t doubt anyone, to be honest, I have a hard time trusting people,” commented Monark. “What he [PC Siqueira] spoke, from the interpretation, it felt like, like, it was the first time he felt anything that could be considered this. [pedofilia], even in leakage. I think a thought, if he’s never done anything really physical with some kid, I don’t think he should be considered a criminal at least.”

Asked by the guest, he reinforced the idea. “I don’t know if he’s a criminal,” he said. “I think the crime is in you producing and publicizing. But that’s a thing you’re going to say: ‘Bitch, this guy doesn’t hit the balls well’. It sure is… Understand?”

“But criminal I don’t know,” he repeated. “A guy who’s a pedophile, why would I want to arrest him? If he was threatening other kids. Understand? If he’s watching a parade, it sucks… It’s pretty weird, I wouldn’t be friends with that person, but I I don’t know if he should be arrested, you know? Really, like this… Because the real crime is you exposing a child. Or you abusing a child, in my opinion. Or not?”

The ECA (Child and Adolescent Statute), in article 241-B, points out that it is a crime to “acquire, possess or store, by any means, a photograph, video or other form of record that contains an explicit or pornographic sex scene involving a child or teenager”. The penalty can range from 1 to 4 years of imprisonment, in addition to a fine.

Monark was one of the presenters of the Flow Podcast, one of the best known in Brazil, until another controversy put him in check. On February 7, he received federal deputies Kim Kataguiri (Podemos) and Tabata Amaral (PSB) when he stated that “the radical left has much more space than the radical right”. “The two had to have space, in my opinion. I think the Nazi had to have the Nazi party recognized by law,” he said.

The next day, after the backlash and loss of sponsors, he was dropped from Flow. Flow Studios also released a statement apologizing, “especially to the Jewish community”, and informing about the withdrawal of the episode.

In an interview with the Cara a Tapa podcast in June, he said he regrets having apologized for the episode. “It wasn’t smart of me to apologize. I think I should have kept quiet. The problem with when you apologize is that you validate the narrative that you did what you were accused of, even if it wasn’t true,” he said.