by WorldTribune Staff, June 9, 2025 Real World News
American comedians have complained that wokeness has essentially eviscerated their craft.
Brazil apparently has taken woke to the next level.
Brazilian comedian Leo Lins has been sentenced to eight years and three months in prison for telling "forbidden jokes" in a televised stand-up special.
A federal court in Sao Paulo said Lins’s comedy contributed to "the spread of verbal violence in society and promotion of intolerance."
Lins apparently is a modern day Don Rickles. The American insult comic's jokes would never be allowed in today's woke entertainment atmosphere, and Lins went after pretty much everyone in his stand-up routine.
The Brazilian government charged Lins, saying his material targeted black people, the obese, elderly people, those living with HIV, LGBT people, evangelicals, indigenous communities, people from the impoverished northeast of Brazil, Jews, and people with disabilities.
Judge Barbara de Lima Iseppi ruled that "dignity" supersedes the right to free speech, saying: "The place of humor is not a lawless land."
The judge added: "In the event of a conflict between the fundamental precept of freedom of expression and the principles of human dignity and legal equality, the latter must prevail."
Lins's lawyer criticized the ruling, saying in a statement: "This is a sad chapter for freedom of expression in Brazil. Watching a comedian receive the same punishment as someone convicted of drug trafficking, corruption, or even murder, all because of jokes told on stage, is deeply troubling."
Lins – who has performed Portuguese-language shows in Leicester Square Theatre and Top Secret Comedy Club in London – was also fined around £40,000 ($54,000US) for moral damages.
Two years ago, a court ordered Lins, now 42, to remove the offending special – "Perturbador" (or "Distruptor") – from YouTube, but not before it was viewed more than three million times. At the time Lins said the move "set a dangerous precedent for comedy and art in general."
