Brazil bank ad featuring blacks, transgender taken off air
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro shows his pen before signing the law that creates credit for small enterprises, during a ceremony at the Planalto Presidential Palace, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, April 24, 2019. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
A bank commercial that featured a transgender woman and several young blacks has been removed after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro intervened.
Bolsonaro, a former army captain with a long history of disparaging comments about minorities and gays, took office Jan. 1. Since then, he has frequently weighed into cultural wars.
In a statement to The Associated Press Friday, Banco do Brasil said the ad was taken off air after Bolsonaro spoke with the state-run bank's president, Rubem Novaes. The statement said the director of marketing had been fired, but did not provide further details.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The president's office declined comment.
Set to music, the ad shows several Brazilians going about their day.
News of the ad's removal comes a day after Bolsonaro reportedly said Brazil should not become a "gay paradise."