The artist talks about the drama he experienced behind the scenes when he was making ‘Malhação’ and his sexuality was exposed against his will
In an interview on host Luan Poffo’s YouTube channel, the actor and screenwriter Igor Cosso talks about the nightmare at Globo, where he began his television career, after revealing a moment of affection with another man.
“I did Malhação in 2011, I was 19, 20 years old. I had been in a nightclub where a friend was playing, a journalist decided to report it in the newspaper: “an actor who had just joined the Malhação yesterday in the nightclub was kissing a man, if he wants to continue at Globo, the column suggests, he shouldn’t do it.”
Igor says he received private messages with a photo of the accident. “It was the greatest desperation. ‘Okay, my life, my dream is over’. I left Bosnia-Herzegovina two years ago, I was there (at the Globe, in Rio) trying to build something. I spent weeks crying.”
The situation behind the scenes at the broadcaster has become tense. “When I arrived to record, I felt various kinds of homophobia from the team. The kids knew it was me, they started commenting. I was the only gay actor in that cast,” she recalls.
“I once went to an assistant director and asked ‘where am I staying?’ (in the scene). In the conversation with the director he said: “that faggot asks where he is”. Looking at my face, in front of other people. My eyes filled with tears, while I was recording I hid my face so it didn’t look like I was crying.
The artist says that “in the past it was very common” this type of prejudice behind the cameras. “It’s good that today we can talk about these things and that things have changed.”
It was also while working on Globo – the 7pm soap opera ‘Salve-se Quem Puder’, in 2020 – that Igor decided to reveal his homosexuality.
After being outraged by homophobic comments and the loss of thousands of followers for posting a photo of two men kissing on his Instagram profile, he found the courage to declare himself gay and show a selfie with his boyfriend, Heron Leal . An hour later, the news was on the cover of several news portals.
“I cried a lot that day, but with relief, I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders,” she says. “From that day I started feeling so good everywhere… I started creating content, I would record (on Globo) with a different atmosphere, with my head held high, with a smile on my face… even my way of acting changed.”
When he is approached by people who are still ‘hidden’, Igor Cosso has advice ready. “Only after you announce it, admit it, do you begin to experience this freedom, you understand how much it holds you back in every moment of your life… Don’t waste time, life is only one.”
Host Luan Poffo, also an openly gay man, made a timely addition: “It’s not okay not to be yourself. We get used to this very painful place. I’m happy that things are changing.”
Even though television has had a large number of LGBT people among its technical collaborators and artistic cast since its inception, explicit or disguised homophobia has always existed. The most powerful did not suffer direct attacks while the newcomers and less influential felt the problem first hand.
Today TV Globo maintains a policy of inclusion. Almost all soap operas feature characters from the rainbow community and discuss pressing issues. Its hires – famous and anonymous – receive ample support to work in a welcoming environment. Previously prohibited, journalists and news anchors now openly claim to be gay and lesbian without it affecting their credibility.
Obtaining this dignified treatment was only possible thanks to the initiative of people like Igor Cosso, who opposed a society still so full of prejudices.
The pain caused by homophobia in the past has certainly left its mark on the young actor, however the pride of being a positive example for millions of young people must be immensely greater.
Source: Terra
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