Since the beginning of October, the Brazilian press is noticing the possible changes in the law that today permits that non-authorized biographies be taken out of the market by those whose lives are being portrayed in the books. A judgment about the constitutionality of the current law on Brazil’s superior court is scheduled to the end of November and could put an end to a law that has impeded several biographies of entering the Brazilian market. Examples of this are the history of Roberto Carlos a famous romantic singer, that removed his biography from the market in april 2007, and the biography of Lilly Safra, a billionaire that had four marriages, two of which ended with the tragically death of her husbands, which biography called “Gilded Lilly”, is available only in the English version, since 2010.
What called attention of the press was a statement published by a group of artists called “Procure saber” (“Look to know”, in a free translation) saying they were against any changes in the status quo. Among the artists that supported the statement were Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, famous for their leftist political opinions. The reaction of the public to the statement was negative and articles claiming for freedom of speech started appearing in the newspapers by the first week of October. Elio Gaspari wrote a beautiful article in Folha de S. Paulo showing the examples of embargoed biographies (that is the source for my examples above).
On Sunday, Roberto Carlos himself told “Fantástico” -- the premium news and entertainment program of Globo Television -- that he supported changes in the law, as long as there were some adjustments. He didn’t specified which adjustments he thought would be necessary, but he certainly backed from his former position after considering the repercussion of the public. The subject should be still on the news radar as long as the law stay under discussion and the judgment from the superior court isn’t over.
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