In recent days, the internet has recalled several videos of the man who is now at the center of the biggest war crisis in decades. These are images of Volodymir Zelensky, 44, performing in 2006 with a sparkling pink suit in “Dancing with the Stars”, a franchise called “Dança dos Famosos” in Brazil, or voicing the animation of Paddington, a talking bear loved by children. british
Another viral video rescued from the virtual marsh: an almost six-minute performance in which he, with his pants down, appears to play the piano with his penis — one of the highlights was the phallic interpretation of “Hava Nagila”, a classic from the Jewish songbook that means, in Hebrew, “let us rejoice.”
Cheering his countrymen was, for more than 20 years, Zelensky’s job. Today he is on an unlikely journey: from one of the country’s most popular comedians to the wartime president of Ukraine.
Three years before being invaded by Vladimir Putin’s Russia, the former Soviet rib elected as its leader an artist famous for the role of an ordinary man who, by pirouettes of fate, becomes the head of state.
“Sluha Narodu” (Servant of the People) premiered in 2015 and, for three seasons, told the story of this history teacher who vents in the classroom about a nation doomed to choose “between the same two assholes as always”, is recorded by a student, goes viral, enters politics and ends up winning the election. The series went off the air shortly before fiction imitated reality, and its lead actor won the presidency.
When Ukraine began to be bombed by Putin’s troops, Zelensky was on screens everywhere, and his previous career was once again a subject, being cited, with irony, by Jair Bolsonaro. “Ukrainians trusted a comedian with the destiny of a nation,” said the Brazilian president on Sunday (27).
Continuing, the networks of these bands remembered the comedian Danilo Gentili. He also flirts with the idea of receiving the presidential sash one day. Backed by the MBL (Movimento Brasil Livre), the candidacy of the SBT presenter was even measured by some research institutes. He himself posted on Twitter, after Zelensky’s victory in 2019, that in 2022 or 2026 he would be in the square. “Count me in.”
André Marinho, who in 2018 was successful parodying a conversation between Bolsonaro and Donald Trump, at the time US president, asked for “maximum respect” to the Ukrainian leader and to whom he is dedicated to humor.
“Proponents of Russian aggression against Ukraine thought it was a great idea to mock Zelensky for having had a career as a comedian and actor before he was elected,” he tells sheet the son of businessman Paulo Marinho, who hosted the Bolsonarista campaign HQ four years ago, but today opposes the president.
“But do you know who he’s in? With people the size of Ronald Reagan, responsible for the victory of the free world in the Cold War, and without firing a single shot,” he says of the Hollywood actor who took over the White House in the 1980s. The irony is not realizing that, by mocking the Ukrainian’s credentials, Bolsonaro is targeting “the greatest conservative leader in recent history”, according to Marinho.
“I never imagined that I would see Bozo talking bad about a clown”, says comedian Antonio Tabet. “Those who are in power today are tired of evaluating people’s character by religion, physical characteristics and even sexuality. It would not be different with a profession that they consider minor or vulgar. political leaning over the last 34 years.”
His colleague at Porta dos Fundos, Gregorio Duvivier, says it would be a profit if the country were under the yoke of a former comedian. “Nobody has any doubts that even Tiririca would have been a better president than Bolsonaro.”
More than not getting in the way of the presidential exercise, the past in entertainment can help Zelensky in a conflict that is also one of narratives. “He knows how to handle the audience and the camera,” says Tabet. “That gives him an edge over the uncharismatic Putin, especially in terms of international public opinion.”
The past videos of Zelensky’s humorous phase would even collaborate to make him a friendly figure, reinforcing the opposition to Putin, often photographed at the head of immense tables, isolated, although this Saturday he made an image effort, when carrying out a conversation. with employees of the state-owned Russian airline Aeroflot. Surrounded by women, he didn’t demand detachment.
And the Ukrainian seems aware of the power of his rhetoric. In a speech to the European Parliament, via videoconference, he made an interpreter who was translating him into English cry. “Prove that you really are Europeans, and then life will conquer death, and light will conquer darkness.”
When European leaders met a few days ago to discuss sanctions against Russia, some were hesitant about going too hard, like German Prime Minister Olaf Scholz. Zelensky then joined the call.
According to the Washington Post, the Ukrainian’s emotional appeal had an immediate effect. He said, essentially, that his people were dying for European ideals. Before hanging up, he spoke with an uncomfortable ease that this might be the last time they would see him alive.
