Brazil: Governor jokes about raping male minister, minister questions governor's sexuality

André Puccinelli (right), governor of Mato Grosso du Sul, obviously felt among friends when he made some questionable comments at a business luncheon yesterday.

The Governor, who has fought back against government efforts to limit the expansion of profitable sugar cane plantations in his state, was riling against Environmental Minister Carlos Minc when he made the comments.

Midamax quoted Puccinelli as saying that the Minister was "a faggot and smokes pot" (Minc is described as a government advocate for the legalization of marihuana). According to the paper, Puccinelli went further, joking that if he caught Minc running at a local athletic event, he "would catch up to him and rape him in a public plaza".

The outrage was immediate and Pucinelli has since apologized. According to Portal MS, in a statement released yesterday, he called media reports a "misunderstanding" and said that his comments were "never meant to offend the minister". Even if the comments had been made "in jest", he said, they were inappropriate and worthy of an apology.

Minc, for his part, responded today in his own unique way by calling Puccinelli to accept that there might be a bit of gayness inside him. "He should do a deeper analysis of the statement he made about rape in a public plaza, examine it, and treat the homosexuality that exists within him with better care, and perhaps accept it more reasonably" ["Ele deve fazer uma análise mais profunda da declaração dele sobre o estupro em praça pública e examinar e tratar com mais carinho o homossexualismo que existe dentro dele próprio e talvez aceitar isso com mais razoabilidade"]. That, according to today's Correio.

The very least that can be said is that the Environmental Minister is no wilting flower.