Anitta is facing intense backlash due to the release of a new music video. The 31-year-old pop star shared a preview of her new song, “Aceitar,” on her Instagram, where she has 65 million followers. In two hours, she lost 200,000 followers, according to her.
The video depicts the practices of her faith, Candomblé. Her Instagram account displayed images of her dressed in religious garments with a Candomblé authority, as well as photos of spiritual items and other iconographies associated with the faith.
Candomblé is considered a syncretic religion, meaning it is based on various beliefs and traditions brought by the West African peoples enslaved by the Portuguese empire during the colonial period.
Although practiced by only 2% of the population, Afro-Brazilian religions like Candomblé represent a disproportionate number of reported cases of religious intolerance, according to a 2022 report from the U.S. State Department on religious freedom in Brazil.
For centuries, Candomblé has been relegated to the shadows. It was considered demonic witchcraft and a public danger in an overwhelmingly Catholic society.
The black-and-white music video portrays other religions, such as Catholicism, and the lyrics broadly address the theme of acceptance, suggesting that the song is a commentary on religious intolerance.
In a social media post, Anitta stated that she was the target of “religious racism,” a term introduced by Candomblé leaders to describe acts of religious intolerance against Afro-Brazilian religions.
“What happened to Anitta happens every day,” said Professor Ana Paulina Lee from Columbia University to The New York Times.
“I think it’s extremely important to show that this is not new, but part of a long history of racism that is not just about skin,” she added.
Anitta may have lost followers, but she continues to make headlines in major international newspapers.
Source: The New York Times