Content note for racism, antisemitism

“Do for the ones you love while they are still alive. Sending flowers after they are dead only profits the florist.” - Clodovil Hernandes

 Throughout his lifetime in Brazil, Clodovil Hernandes wore several hats. From an early age, he became a widely recognizable public figure in his country, first as a fashion stylist and designer, then as a television personality, and finally as a politician. At each of these various stages of life and career, however, he maintained his brazenly flamboyant persona and unapologetic attitude, becoming both a trailblazing visibly queer icon and a contentious figure with numerous enemies. In the years since his sudden passing, Clodovil’s legacy has often been the subject of much debate, with some hailing him as a pioneer and others criticizing him for his lack of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. Though many of his actions and remarks over the years were indeed problematic and perhaps worthy of his cancellation, Clodovil Hernandes nevertheless left an indelible mark on Brazilian culture and society, and his life continues to be a source of both fascination and controversy.       

Clodovil Hernandes was born on June 17th, 1937, in Elisiário, a small town in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. As an infant, he was adopted by a Spanish immigrant couple named Diego Hernández and Isabel Sánchez, who humbly raised him in the countryside. Hernandes never met his biological parents, and instead grew particularly close to his adoptive mother. Growing up, Hernandes attended a local Catholic school, where he received a modest education and in addition to his native Portuguese, learned to also speak both Spanish (his parents' language) and French. 

From an early age, Clodovil displayed an affinity for fashion, and by age sixteen had already begun working as a fashion stylist. After making the move to São Paulo, he continued working as a stylist throughout the 1960s and 1970s, but also rose to prominence as a fashion designer, particularly of haute couture. He started working for several high-profile fashion houses, where he gained a reputation for his innovative use of fabrics, bold color palettes, and dramatic designs. He soon became one of Brazil’s most sought-after fashion designers, dressing many of the country’s elite women and celebrities. Alongside his creative pursuits, he also became known for his own flamboyant style as well as his larger-than-life persona, both of which helped propel him to stardom. Though his appearance and demeanor challenged traditional notions of masculinity at the time, Hernandes’ rise to fame coincided with a period of modernization and internationalization in Brazil, and he soon became one of the country’s first home-grown fashion designers with national recognition.

In the 1980s, Clodovil transitioned from the world of fashion to television, evolving into a popular talk show host and media personality. Hernandes began making regular appearances on Rede Globo's “TV Mulher," which was hosted by Marília Gabriela and sexologist Marta Suplicy and was one of Brazil’s first shows dedicated to the contemporary woman. Though he found success on “TV Mulher,” Clodovil was eventually fired from the female-oriented program. Nevertheless, his sharp wit, blunt manner of speaking, and flair for drama made him a natural fit for Brazilian television, and he became even more well known for his ability to entertain and provoke on various other programs. Throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, he would go on to host several of his own talk shows, including “Clodovil Abre o Jogo” (Clodovil Opens the Game), “A Casa é Sua” (The House is Yours), and “Clodovil em Noite de Gala” (Clodovil in Gala Night). His shows attracted significant audiences, and his popularity as a media figure only further solidified his place as a cultural icon in Brazil.

Across the variety of shows on which he appeared, Clodovil’s TV persona was a mix of high society sophistication and no-nonsense critique. He became famous for calling out politicians, celebrities, and other public figures, often in a harsh and unfiltered manner. His directness thus made him both a beloved and reviled character, as he was unafraid to speak his mind on any topic, whether it be fashion, politics, or celebrity scandals. As a result, Clodovil’s television career was not without controversy. He was frequently accused of being rude, offensive, and even misogynistic at times, which alienated some viewers. His confrontational style also meant he made enemies with various coworkers and other figureheads in the media industry, which would sometimes lead to cancellations or firings. 

Despite these controversies, Clodovil remained a staple of Brazilian television for more than two decades, carving out a niche for himself as a larger-than-life figure who could both amuse and enrage his audience. Additionally, as an openly gay man in a largely conservative society, Clodovil often faced discrimination and prejudice due to his sexual identity, but managed to navigate these challenges with a combination of charisma and undeniable talent. His visibility as a gay man in the public eye was groundbreaking, though it would take decades for the full impact of his presence to be acknowledged.

After a brief period of quiet, Clodovil reemerged into the spotlight in 2006 when, at the age of 69, he decided to enter the realm of politics and run for a seat in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies. Running as a candidate of the Christian Labour Party, his campaign slogan was "Brasília will never be the same." Given his previous career paths, his candidacy was initially met with skepticism, as many viewed him as an entertainer rather than a serious political figure. In the end, Clodovil surprised his critics when he received over 493,000 votes—the third-highest number of votes for any candidate in the state—and thereby won a seat as a federal deputy for São Paulo. 

As a politician, Clodovil was as unorthodox as he had been in his previous careers. Though he advocated for various causes, including women’s rights, animal protection, and urban development, he also continued to speak his mind, often making inflammatory comments that drew negative media attention and made him quite a handful of enemies. During one controversial radio interview in 2006, for example, Clodovil referred to Black people as "complex creoles" and claimed that Jews had both manipulated the facts of the Holocaust and manufactured the September 11 attacks. In response to these defamations, an infuriated Osias Wurman, president of the Israeli Federation of Rio, filed a court action against Clodovil, accusing him of being a racist and antisemite. Wurman also sent audio recordings of the interview to the State Department of Human Rights, as well as to various state deputies and nongovernmental organizations associated with the Black movement.

Additionally, despite the fact that he had long been living as an openly gay man, Clodovil also distanced himself politically from LGBTQ+ activism, and often made statements that were at odds with the country’s broader movement for LGBTQ+ rights. He once, for example, stated that he was against the creation of laws that would specifically protect LGBTQ+ people, arguing that they should be treated like everyone else, without any special protections. While perhaps not as problematic as some of his aforementioned comments, these publicly made opinions were still seen as highly stymying to the advancement of LGBTQ+ rights in Brazil.

Fortunately, Clodovil’s political career was short-lived, and for its entirety he faced significant opposition from both his colleagues and the public. His confrontational style, which had often served him well in the entertainment and fashion worlds, proved to ultimately be a liability in politics, where diplomacy and negotiation were often required, if not preferred. Though it was likely he would not win a reelection, he would ultimately never get the chance, as Hernandes suffered a stroke while still serving out his first term and passed away on March 17th, 2009, at the age of 71.  

With Clodovil’s abrupt passing, he left behind a unique and complex legacy within LGBTQ+ history in Brazil. On the one hand, his visibility as an openly gay man in the public eye was groundbreaking, especially in the 1970s and ‘80s when LGBTQ+ representation in Brazilian mainstream media was rare. Additionally, his unabashedly flamboyant persona and unapologetic attitude toward his sexuality challenged many societal norms at the time, and also  provided a role model for many other Brazilian LGBTQ+ individuals who saw in Clodovil a figure refusing to conform to heteronormative expectations.

On the flip side, many others perceived Clodovil’s public persona as a flamboyant, larger-than-life character as detrimental, reinforcing certain negative stereotypes about gay men that seemed to persist in Brazilian culture. While his visibility as a gay man in the public eye was certainly groundbreaking, it also helped perpetuate the idea that gay men were inherently dramatic, fashionable, and outrageous, and for some LGBTQ+ activists, this caricature failed to capture the diversity and complexity of LGBTQ+ identities that they were trying to promote.

Clodovil’s relationship with the LGBTQ+ community was also often fraught with contradictions, especially later on in his life. Despite living as an openly gay man, he often distanced himself from LGBTQ+ activism and the community at large, and made numerous public statements that were perceived as regressive or dismissive of LGBTQ+ rights. His insistence that LGBTQ+ individuals did not need special legal protections was seen by many as a betrayal of the community, particularly at a time when both violence and discrimination against queer people ran rampant in Brazil. Clodovil’s views on gender were also controversial, as he was known for making sexist and misogynistic comments, which alienated him from feminist movements and gender equality activists. Lastly, his sporadic rants peppered with racism and antisemitism also painted him as a baseless and iniquitous figure.    

In more recent years, Clodovil’s legacy has been re-examined, in light of the broader LGBTQ+ movement in Brazil. While he is certainly recognized as an important figure in Brazilian queer history, there is also a parallel acknowledgement that his contributions to LGBTQ+ rights were both limited and often contradictory. It is therefore perhaps helpful to try and understand Clodovil’s life and career within the broader context of LGBTQ+ rights in Brazil, a country that, like Hernandes himself, has also had its own complex and contradictory relationship with LGBTQ+ issues. 

In the past decade or so, Brazil has certainly made significant strides in terms of legal protections for LGBTQ+ individuals. In 2011, the Brazilian Supreme Court recognized same-sex unions, and in 2013, same-sex marriage was legalized. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity was a crime equivalent to racism. Despite these legal advances, Brazil remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for LGBTQ+ people, often ranking as the country with the highest LGBTQ+ murder rate. Violence in general against LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly transgender women and gay men, is seen as widespread, while many LGBTQ+ activists continue to face significant challenges in their fight for equality. Additionally, the country has seen a rise in conservative and evangelical political movements in recent years, with many politicians and religious leaders openly opposing LGBTQ+ equality, which has also led to a broader backlash against LGBTQ+ rights.

Given this context, it is perhaps easier to understand Clodovil’s refusal to align himself with the LGBTQ+ movement, even if it may have been for his own sense of security. Nevertheless, his refusal could also be seen as a missed opportunity, considering that he was one of the most recognized openly gay public figures in Brazil, and thus had a platform to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and challenge the discrimination and violence faced by the community. Instead, his focus remained largely on his own individual success, and his views and actions often, in the end, clashed with the goals of the country’s greater LGBTQ+ movement.

 In many ways though, Clodovil Hernandes was still a trailblazer in Brazil, a man who pushed and broke boundaries in the realms of fashion, media, and politics. His early visibility as an openly gay man in conservative Brazilian society was groundbreaking, and his larger-than-life persona made him a cultural icon in his home country. His legacy within the queer community, however, was made complicated by his staunch refusal to align himself with the LGBTQ+ movement, not to mention by his controversial and often extremely problematic public views on gender, race and sexuality. While Clodovil’s contributions to LGBTQ+ visibility in Brazil certainly cannot be erased, his thorny relationship with the LGBTQ+ movement on the whole serves as a reminder that representation alone is not enough to achieve equality, and that not every LGBTQ+ icon is an absolute hero. 

REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING

Disclaimer: some of the sources may contain triggering material

Bonham, M.S. (2014). Champions: Biographies of Global LGBTQ Pioneers. Bonham & Company Incorporated.

Clemente, I. (2007). Character of the week: Clodovil and his cabinet. Epoca. https://web.archive.org/web/20090321093904/http://revistaepoca.globo.com/Revista/Epoca/1,,EDG77029-6001,00.html 

Gonçalves Rosi, B. (2019). Brazil’s sole openly gay congressman leaves the country after death threats? Notes On Liberty. https://notesonliberty.com/tag/clodovil-hernandes/ 

Levy, H. (2025). Globalized queerness: Identities and commodities in queer popular culture. Bloomsbury. 

Locatelli, P. (2009). Clodovil Hernandes dies in Brasilia; controversy marked career on TV and in politics. UOL Notícias. https://noticias.uol.com.br/especiais/reportagens/2009/03/17/morre_clodovil.jhtm  

Pecheny, M., & Corrales, J. (2010). The politics of sexuality in Latin America: A reader on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and Transgender Rights. University of Pittsburgh Press. 

Rolle, E. (2014). Clodovil Hernandes (June 17, 1937 – March 17, 2009), LiveJournal. https://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1967015.html 

Soler, A. (2006). Israeli Federation summons Clodovil Hernandes for racism. O Globo. https://oglobo.globo.com/in/federacao-israelita-intima-clodovil-hernandes-por-racismo-4552893