Overview
- Video from Feb. 15 shows Perez atop a Black security guard's shoulders during the final Pipoca Doce run on Salvador's Osmar circuit, and the images quickly spread online.
- Social media users criticized the scene as reproducing structural racism, with some invoking the phrase “Sinhá e seu serviçal.”
- Perez said she climbed onto the guard's shoulders at specific moments to get closer to children because of her height.
- In a statement, she called the image “hard,” said “nothing justifies it,” apologized, and described recognizing the error as a first step before taking action.
- She highlighted Carnival’s roots in a majority-Black culture and reaffirmed a commitment to reject racist symbolism, while no formal sanctions or investigations were reported.