But even in Brazil's liberal climate there are limits on sex, violence and the bizarre -- and the newly minted television stars who go by the names Auntie and Little Rat have set off a fierce national controversy by exceeding them. Indeed, public outrage at the behavior of the two performers, who appear on separate programs on different networks based here in Brazil's largest city, has become so intense that the government is being called on to intervene.
But the Brazilian equivalent of the U. Federal Communications Commission is toothless, and court challenges have thus far come to naught. So the issue has been taken up by the Brazilian federal government's human rights ombudsman. But in regard to security and cultural marginalization, we need to correct certain problems, and so my principal concern is to diminish violence.
Little Rat, known as Ratinho in Portuguese and Carlos Massa when he is offstage, began his show less than two years ago. He invites guests whose cases are more bizarre and pathetic than anything Jerry Springer could imagine. Constant among them are victims of unusual physical deformities, like a man with a gigantic tumor that has grown over his face, or almost unimaginable brutality, like a woman whose jealous husband had gouged her eyes out.
Competing with the soap operas that have traditionally been the backbone of prime-time programming in this nation of million, "Little Rat's Show" has won its share of high ratings. National marketing surveys indicate that the program appeals most strongly to the urban working poor and inhabitants of rural areas, groups that tend to be less educated. But Massa's image recently took a tumble when he intervened in the kidnapping of the brother of a country music star.
Also, to demonstrate their seriousness, they cut off one of their victim's ears and sent it to a television station that carries the Ratinho program. Massa later apologized, saying his interference had been "a huge stupidity. There has also been a chorus of complaints that he will do anything to increase his ratings, which in fact nearly doubled during the kidnapping.
