Since 2019, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has drawn international criticism over his dismantling of environmental protections, particularly in the Amazon region, The Guardian reported. Leonardo DiCaprio, unsurprisingly, is one of his critics. On April 28, the actor used Twitter to urge young Brazilians to fight for the rainforest in the October elections, writing, “What happens there matters to us all and youth voting is key in driving change for a healthy planet.”
Bolsonaro had some sarcasm-laced thoughts on DiCaprio’s perceived campaign against him. “Thanks for your support, Leo! … Our people will decide if they want to keep our sovereignty on the Amazon or to be ruled by crooks who serve foreign special interest. Good job in ‘The Revenant!'” he tweeted. Bolsonaro didn’t stop there. “Now, DiCaprio has to know that it was the very president of the World Trade Organization who said that without Brazilian agribusiness, the world would be hungry,” Bolsonaro said on May 3, according to CNN.
This isn’t the first time Bolsonaro has gone after DiCaprio. When DiCaprio used social media to draw attention to the 2019 fires that ravished the Amazon, Bolsonaro had a deflection strategy that involved blaming the actor, Deadline reported. The president accused NGOs of starting the fires to make his administration look bad. Since DiCaprio supports different organizations, he ended up in Bolsonaro’s crosshairs. “This Leonardo DiCaprio’s a cool guy, isn’t he? Giving money for the Amazon to be torched,” he jabbed.
