Janaína Xavier says she doesn’t regret talking about meritocracy on TV

Journalist and former Globo presenter Janaína Xavier, 46, says she does not regret the statements she made on the Benja me Mucho podcast. On the show, she said that “there was a certain moment when I felt treated like ‘you’re too pretty to be here'”, and that the network had chosen to include “the chubbier girl” in the shows. She also said that “the pretty girl was no longer good enough” at a certain point when she worked at the channel.

In conversation with the F5Janaína claims that many people would not have understood the context of her speeches and have only been relying on viral cuts on social media. She also says that in the last few days she has blocked “half a dozen ignorant people”, but thanked “hundreds of messages from people who watched the entire interview and obviously understood the reasoning”.

“I regret the alienation of people who watch courts and criticize without listening to the whole picture, and the worst of this are those who call themselves journalists and publish false and irresponsible headlines,” he says.

The professional refutes news headlines about her having said that she was fired for being pretty, and says that she was laid off during her pregnancy during the pandemic. “After my maternity leave, my position had been filled permanently. They had no place to fit me and decided to fire me.”

Regarding the talk about the beauty standards imposed on television and which generated a certain buzz, the presenter says that neither in the past nor now, the professional’s ability is evaluated as the main criterion.

“And I repeat: nowadays, race, sexuality and political positioning are, yes, evaluated as a priority in most HR departments in this country. I will always be a defender of meritocracy and of positions achieved through efficiency and not through physical characteristics, whatever they may be”, she reinforces.

The statement by the former Globo presenter has been making waves on social media. While some people defend what she said, others repudiate it. In some cases, some people have called the statement racist after she said that a company will always choose, for example, a black woman over a white one.

“There are messages from black people who agree with me. Those who call me racist certainly didn’t watch the entire interview. I talked about criteria, and skin color is one of them, as well as sexuality, among others that in my opinion, shouldn’t be at the top of the list before the professional’s ability,” he points out.

According to Janaína, the malicious comments, which she claims are a minority, exist largely due to the irresponsibility of publications in the press. “They are the ones that encourage the distorted view of many people. I do not regret it.” [das falas]. I know who I am, those who know me also know, and those who are intolerant will always attack”, adds the journalist.