The Olympics Opening Ceremony may have already won a gold medal for bad taste.
A skit in which Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen appears to be robbed by a black boy will reportedly be cut from the show.
One of the performances revealed during a dress rehearsal on Sunday featured a police chase after Gisele is apparently “accosted” by the young man, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. While the scene ends on a positive note, Fernando Alvares Salis, head of the communications department at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, said it perpetuated a racist stereotype. “It’s totally unacceptable.”
The creative director, Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles, called the press’ representation of the scene a misunderstanding. He told the Post he was testing out a sketch in which a food vendor attempts to take a selfie with Gisele and security guards react. Then Gisele defends the vendor.
“It was a gag that was not funny so we cut it,” he said.
The Olympic organizing committee had told Agence France-Presse that “there is no robbery” without providing details.
While details of the ceremony were supposed to be kept under wraps at Sunday’s run-through, word quickly spread about the controversial sketch.
