Rather than beat him with his words, a Brazilian mayoral candidate tried to take out his rival by beating him over the head with a metal chair in the middle of their debate.
The heated debate between José Luiz Datena, 67, and Pablo Marçal, 37, erupted into chaos on Sunday when the older Sao Paulo candidate rushed at his opponent swinging a chair, as seen in a broadcast by local TV Cultura.
Datena, a local news anchor, said he reacted in rage when Marçal, an influencer turned right-wing politician, mocked him over long-dismissed allegations of sexual misconduct.
“He came with a case that was archived, that was not even investigated by the police because there was no evidence,” he told the outlet, per a CNN translation.
“Something from 11 years ago that caused a very serious situation within my family.”
Marçal, meanwhile, compared the chair attack to the stabbing of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in 2018 — and even the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump by a sniper in July.
His team even put together an image of all three attacks for an Instagram post with the caption: “Why all this hate?”
Marçal was hospitalized for trauma to his wrist and chest — including a possible chest fracture — and has vowed to take legal action against his opponent.
“Pablo Marçal was cowardly attacked by José Luiz Datena, who hit him in the ribs with an iron chair,” Marçal’s team said in a statement.
The two men were among the six candidates vying to be the next mayor of Sao Paulo, one of the largest cities in the world home to about 11.4 million people.
Prior to the attack, Datena was polling fifth, with Marçal in third place.
With Post wires
