Doh! Rio blames it on The Simpsons

Alex Bellos in Rio de Janeiro
Tuesday April 9, 2002
The Guardian

When the Simpsons, America's favourite dysfunctional family, visited Brazil last week they made some offbeat observations.
The cartoon characters found that Rio de Janeiro is a city where all men are bisexual, where fearsome monkeys roam the streets, and tourists are kidnapped by taxi drivers and mugged by children.

The ironic humour was par for the course for a show that has poked fun at middle American stereotypes for more than a decade.

Unfortunately, the Rio tourist board did not see the funny side and is preparing to sue the producers, Fox, for damage to its international image and loss of revenue. The issue threatens to become a diplomatic incident.

The Brazilian president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, has entered the fray claiming that the cartoon "brought a distorted vision of Brazilian reality".

The episode, watched by more than 11 million Americans last week, was called Blame it on Lisa, a take on the 1984 film Blame It On Rio.

It follows the family from their home in Springfield to Rio to look for a poor orphan that Lisa, the sensitive daughter, is sponsoring. But as soon as they arrive Homer, the father, is kidnapped by a cabbie. Later, when he and his son Bart have a fruit juice they are mugged by a gang of children.

In his hotel room, Bart is glued to a children's TV show, presented by a semi-naked blonde stripper, in which sexy dancers seduce the child studio audience. He is also attacked by monkeys on Copacabana beach.

A statement from the Rio tourist board said that it has recently spent US$18m (£12.5m) promoting the city abroad and that the episode will have "drastic consequences" in the US market.

Rio has severe social problems and high levels of violence, although these are generally restricted to certain areas. Attacks on tourists are rare and no one has ever been attacked by a monkey on Copacabana.

Part of the anger in Brazil about The Simpsons is that, as well the stereotypes, there are many inaccuracies - Marge, the mother, finds that the local mode of transport is the "conga", which is a Caribbean dance. (She takes a conga to the hotel).

Also, the family visits a samba school to learn the macarena - a Latin dance not performed in Brazil. There is also the penetrada, a fictitious and lascivious dance shown them by the teacher.

Rio's tourist secretary, Jose Eduardo Guinle, said: "If Fox is so worried about Brazilian orphans and the poverty of our children, it should donate the profits of the episode to the city's social work programme."

The tourist board is now studying how best to proceed with legal action.

In January, the mayor of Rio threatened to sue a weather forecaster who predicted, wrongly, that there would be storms on New Year's Eve. The weather forecast kept crowds away from one of the biggest festivals of the year.