Carlinhos Maia, 25 million followers: ‘Brazil loves me, but sometimes it beats me up’

It’s not easy for Carlinhos Maia to be who he is. Controversial, the 30-year-old influencer and comedian deals daily with the love and hate of the more than 25 million Brazilians who follow him. For some time now, he has been trying to get rid of the controversial image that parties in the middle of a pandemic and risks in work of art have caused him.

“The truth is that part of Brazil adores me and exalts me, but sometimes it beats me up. The controversies didn’t help me to gain a following, in fact I’ve lost many in each of them”, he says to the F5. Carlinhos says that he has been trying to stay away from fights and position himself less. “I regret a lot,” he admits.

In an interview with the website, the comedian also talks about the quest to reach his first billion reais, the fixation on expensive watches and luxury cars, the creation of a digital bank and also about a film of his life, project for 2023.

You announced that you will launch a digital bank later this month. Why invest in this field? Isn’t it a risky idea?

andIt’s the biggest project of my life. I will give monthly perks and prizes to people, like houses and cars. There will be a telephone line, black card for everyone. In addition, for trans people it will be possible to put their social name and make loans. I want to make the dreams of others come true, it’s an idea that I’ve been maturing for two years.

What assessment do you make of your career in the last five years?

Everything is positive. leave where i left [Penedo (AL)], I am part of several minorities because I am gay, I was poor, Northeastern, and today being able to stay in the spotlight for so long is an achievement. I was recently a samba school plot [na Império de Casa Verde], I pierced bubbles and reached Brazilian families. There is no negative balance in that. It was all bigger than I imagined.

Do you consider that the controversies in which you were involved most helped or hindered your career?

I was a figure created by the people, so I, a humble village boy, can never get into controversy, because the person thinks he made me for the world, and I have no right to step out of line. The truth is that part of Brazil adores me and exalts me, but sometimes it beats me up. The controversies didn’t help me gain a following, in fact, I’ve lost many in each of them. So these controversies hurt me more than anything else. But I feel happy to be one of the most followed LGBTQIA+ in the world with 25 million people. It is a gigantic merit.

Do you regret something?

Yes, I regret having to talk too much, justifying things, I regret taking a stand when I didn’t even need to, but I was pressured to do so. Should have been quieter. For a long time I played the rebel boy. That party in the pandemic, in the Northeast, everyone was not wearing a mask and we turned a blind eye. This I made a mistake and I wouldn’t do it again.

And the frame controversy scratched?

This polemic of risk in the [da artista plástica Lau Rocha, em Aracaju, em 2019] I didn’t know that when you buy you can’t scratch it. I didn’t know it was an authorial work, I just wanted to leave my mark so that the guests of that hotel would remember me. All this made me mature. Today I think more before I speak and act, it was good for my personal life too. I’m more at peace.

Turn and move you appear on the networks filming yourself giving high value prizes to strangers on the street…

I’ve already given a lot and there’s the part I don’t film. There are millions of reais in prizes for strangers, house, car, what I film is the show business of my life. I like to influence people to donate, to do good.

You have a lot of followers but a lot of ‘haters’ [odiadores na internet]. How do you deal with rejection?

In those five years I had several blows and I had to reinvent myself. A lot of people ask me to take a stand and when I do, they attack me. It’s a tightrope I need to equalize so it doesn’t affect my mental health. Today I am less controversial because I no longer position myself so much.

You stopped doing TV. Thinking about resuming?

I’m talking again with Multishow, maybe ‘Uma Vila de Novela’ will come back, we’re still seeing it.

What other projects for the future besides the bank?

I want a movie to show my story and my mother’s. We are even thinking about the title: ‘The Son of Mary’. We’re looking for a production company to take off the role in 2023. I’ll just be behind the camera and maybe show up at the end, but I would be an actor playing my role from childhood to adulthood. It will be more of a comedy with drama, because it was all very painful in my life. Nothing was easy.

On the personal side, how is your marriage with Lucas Guimarães going?

It’s all right. Two years from now, after I earn my first billion reais, my focus will be on having children. I want to be the first Brazilian influencer to reach the first billion. I’m not close, but I’m working. But back to the kids, I want to have at least three. I was adopted, right, so I want to adopt too.

And speaking of money, you recently bought another watch valued at R$1 million. Are you a consumerist?

Yes, I am, but watch is something I like, I have about 12 of them, I treat them as an investment. Hope I don’t have to resell. I still have a Ferrari, a Porsche, I really like cars. I’m a guy who has fun with the money issue. I never had anything and today I want to have everything without pretending. Humility has nothing to do with what we have, they are dreams that I fulfill without outsmarting anyone.