Roberto Justus: Justice condemns UFRJ professor who made comments against businessman’s daughter

Roberto Justus: Justice condemns UFRJ professor who made comments against businessman’s daughter


The case dates back to July and involved a photo in which 5-year-old Vicky appeared holding a designer bag. Marcos Dantas, a retired professor at the university, did not comment on the sentencing, but said the comment was a “metaphor”

THE Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJSP) condemned Marcos Dantas, a retired professor Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)for comments made against the entrepreneur’s daughter Roberto Giusto and the model Ana Paula Siebert. The decision was confirmed by Estadao by the entrepreneur’s lawyer, Rafael Pavan, and by the TJSP this Wednesday 22. There is still an appeal.

The Report reached out to Marcos Dantas for a statement on the case, but did not receive a response. The space remains open.

In July, after the repercussions of the case, the professor published a letter in which he stated that he had used a metaphor to talk about the entrepreneur’s daughter. Read in full below.



The case is being processed at the Pinheiros Regional Forum. According to Justus’ lawyer, Dantas was ordered to pay R$50,000 to each perpetrator in the case, a sum that will amount to R$150,000, in addition to the costs and expenses of the trial.

Understanding the case involving Vicky, daughter of Roberto Justus

The case occurred in July after 5-year-old Vicky appeared carrying a designer bag. A Twitter profile shared the image suggesting that the value of the item would be R$14,000. Other profiles commented on the post, including Marcos Dantas, who wrote: “Only the guillotine…”.

Faced with the repercussions, the couple released a video defending their daughter. Siebert said: “Inciting death, inciting hatred, it’s unacceptable. That’s why we’re speaking out. If we start showing that the Internet is no man’s land and everyone can say whatever they want, that’s not the case.” The two said they would take legal action.

UFRJ, where Dantas taught before retiring in 2022, repudiated the professor’s comment. In a statement, the University and the Faculty of Communication (ECO) repudiate “any type of expression of thought that incites violence or attacks third parties”.

Read Marcos Dantas’ full note

“A metaphor has become a crime threat

It was intended to be, and continues to be, a simple metaphor, indeed used occasionally by some on X (formerly Twitter). A symbolic reference to a dramatic, indeed tragic, event that has forever marked the history of humanity: the French Revolution. What is the cause of this revolution? A reality of profound social inequality, which fuels political radicalism.

I received an image, I repeat, image, “print”, randomly arriving on X, accompanied by a comment from a person with whom I exchange messages from time to time on X, referring to another historical fact, for the same reasons, equally violent and dramatic. I, inspired by Marie Antoinette’s famous phrase – “if you don’t have bread, eat biscuits” responded with the metaphor cited above. I consider it a dramatic symbol that warns all of us of the tragedy that can result from such social insensitivity.

Mr. Justus, it never crossed my mind to personally threaten you, your wife, or your daughter. That would be absurd! At 77 years old and with a fulfilled life, fortunately without any reason for complexes or resentments, I know very well, politically and ethically, that we will not solve our serious social problems, which you certainly do not ignore, with social, much less individual, violence. I fear, however, that the prediction sung by Wilson das Neves in his samba “The day the hill will come down and there will be no carnival/ No one [inclusive eu] it will be left for the final procession”… Remembering those historical tragedies can serve (I would like it) to warn everyone against situations that only stimulate, in the simplest minds, explosions of anger.

I repeat: I didn’t have it, I don’t have it, it never crossed my mind to threaten your family. But if, due to these uncontrollable factors inherent to the Internet, the post has come to your attention and caused you much understandable concern, I sincerely ask that you forgive me.”

Source: Terra

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