Brazilian volleyball champion suspended by team after asking fans if they would shoot President Lula

A Brazilian volleyball player has been suspended indefinitely by his team for publishing a social media post that asked followers if anyone would shoot President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Sada Cruzeiro Volei issued the punishment Tuesday evening, a day after Wallace da Souza held a Q&A session on Instagram with followers and one of his fans who asked, ‘Would you shoot Lula in the face with that 12 (mm handgun)?’

‘The Sada Cruzeiro board emphasizes, again, that it repudiates any act that could mean incitement to violence, after the posts of the athlete Wallace. Attentive to developments, the club reports that it has been taking action in the face of the fact,’ the club said in a statement. 

The decision was made after the club ordered da Souza to issue a ‘full retraction and an apology.’ 

The follower’s question was posed after da Souza had posted a picture of himself brandishing the firearm on his Instagram Story. 

Wallace da Souza was suspended Tuesday by his volleyball club, Sada Cruzeiro Volei. The punishment was issued a day after da Souza posted a poll on Instagram asking followers if they would shoot President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

As of Wednesday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had yet to publicly address the Instagram poll posted by volleyball player, Wallace da Souza, who asked followers if anyone would shoot him

He proceeded to repost the follower’s question and included a poll with it that asked fans, ‘Would someone do that,’ followed by an angel emoji.

The vote showed that 54% of his followers clicked yes and 46% opposed such violent action. 

Da Souza, an ardent supporter of the far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, apologized Tuesday afternoon for the bizarre post and recognized that it generated ‘very bad social repercussions.’

The Brazilian Olympic Committee announced that it was opening its own investigation and called da Souza’s behavior ‘unacceptable.’

Although President Lula did not publicly address the Instagram post, Paolo Pimenta, the minister for the Social Communication Secretariat, petitioned the Attorney General’s Office to look into da Souza.

Wallace da Souza shared a question from an Instagram follower who asked, ‘Would you shoot Lula in the face with that 12 (mm handgun)?’ Leandro proceeded to repost the follower’s question and also started a poll in which he asked fans, ‘Would someone do that’

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Wallace da Souza was suspended Tuesday by Brazilian volleyball club, Sada Cruzeiro Volei, for posting a poll on Instagram that asked his followers if anyone would shoot Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

Da Souza won gold with Brazil at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

His 353,000 followers Instagram followers include Bolsonaro and his sons, Eduardo and Flávio.

Following President Lula’s runoff victory in October, the volleyball player posted a photo of Lula on social media that said, ‘crime in Brazil pays’ and added the caption, ‘Brazil is really not for amateurs. Ps: enjoy now before censorship starts.’