Pedro Cardoso causes controversy when comparing Tracy Chapman and Beyoncé: ‘Delete it’s time’

Pedro Cardoso started 2024 causing controversy. The actor, known for playing Augustine in “The Big Family” (2001-2014), compared the artists Tracy Chapman, folk and blues icon, and Beyoncé, one of the greatest singers in the world, and suggested that the second would just have more space in the press and fame than the first for “selling her personal life”.

In a long text, he explained his point of view. “I care more about Trace Chapman’s art than Beyoncé’s. But my question here is why Beyoncé is consumed more than Tracy. And I suspect that the greater commercial success of ‘Beyoncé’ compared to ‘Chapman’ is owes it to those who sell, in addition to their art, also their personal life”, he said.

Cardoso also complained about what he called “more consumption of spectacularized biography of artists than of art.” “The newspapers report dating, business, training, crimes and, mainly, the sexual lives of so-called ‘famous’ people as cultural facts. They say almost nothing about their art”, he added.

Pedro’s post on Instagram generated many negative comments, especially from fans of the pop singer. “Pedro, there’s time to delete it. Because you’re talking about one of the most reserved artists in the world, with the least controversy. I thought it was a bad idea for a white guy to put two black women in that comparative position”, said a follower.

In private response to this opinion, Cardoso wrote that he is “not white” and rebutted the follower. “Who is a ‘white guy’ here? Me? I am neither white nor dude. What is it to be white? Is it the color of the skin or the ideology? For me, what I talk about, the phenotype in the example, is irrelevant. Could be Marisa Monte and Luiza Sonza or Rita Lee and Madonna. Your obsession with the very relevant issue of the echoes of slavery in the present is yours”, he wrote.

The text continued to stir the internet. “Saying that discretion and silence are good characteristics when it comes to a black artist is also symptomatic. White people like discreet black people. Comparing works also seems small to me, but what draws the most attention is how easy it is for someone who has always had the power of the word to form an opinion based on guesswork”, wrote another follower.

There were also those who didn’t care. “Are you warming up to Pedro Cardoso’s opinion about Beyoncé? January 2nd, friends, give it the importance it has: none.”

On Twitter, the atmosphere was also not favorable for Cardoso. His name was in fifth place among the most talked about topics this Tuesday afternoon (2).