Fernando Meirelles, the man behind the kickoff show for the 2016 Rio Olympics, says Donald Trump is going to “hate” Friday night’s opening ceremony.
The Oscar-nominated and renowned Brazilian director of 2002’s City of God took to Twitter on Friday to say that two political candidates are not going to be fans of the show, Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro.
He made the comments after posting that the ceremony will show the “empowerment of blacks and women” and transgender people and will also warn “against the risks of using up oil.”
A cerimônia de hoje terá índios, empoderamento dos negros e das mulheres, transgêneros e um alerta contra os riscos do uso de petróleio.
— Fernando Meirelles (@fmei7777) August 5, 2016
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Translation: “The ceremony today will be Indians, empowerment of blacks and women, transgender and a warning against the risks of using up oil.”
Bolsanaro vai odiar a cerimônia. Trump também.
Pelo menos nisso acertamos.— Fernando Meirelles (@fmei7777) August 5, 2016
Translation: “Bolsanaro will hate the ceremony. Trump too. At least we hit it.”
For this year’s ceremony, Meirelles, who is one of the four Brazilian filmmakers behind tonight’s ceremonies, is working with a significantly lower budget compared to preceding years, reportedly half of London’s $42 million ceremony in 2012.
“We are in a financial crisis, everybody knows,” Meirelles told Bloomberg of Brazil’s deep recession. “It wouldn’t be fair to spend money that London spent in their ceremony.”
Still, organizers have promised the sexiest opening ceremony. It will begin with a short film narrated by actor Giancarlo Esposito and will feature Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, as well as “nearly naked women” doing the samba.
“Athens was about the classics, Beijing was grandiose and muscular, London was smart, and ours — ours will be cool,” Meirelles told Reuters.
Trump has yet to issue a tweet in response.
NBC’s coverage of the opening ceremony of the Games of the XXXI Olympiad from the famed Maracana soccer stadium airs tonight at 7:30 p.m ET/PT. For a daily guide to the Games, click here.
