MP denounces Marcius Melhem and journalist for persecution and psychological violence

The São Paulo Public Ministry (MPSP) denounced comedian Marcius Melhem and journalist Ricardo Feltrin for persecution and psychological violence against actresses who were allegedly sexually and morally harassed by the former comedy director at TV Globo.

The complaint was presented on February 26, but judge Luciane Jabur Mouchaloite Figueiredo, from the 21st Criminal Court of the São Paulo Court of Justice (TJSP), decided to forward it to be analyzed by the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro. According to the judge, the complaint is related to the lawsuit that the comedian faces in the capital of Rio de Janeiro for sexual harassment.

In the complaint, the MP states that Melhem produced and posted videos about the accusation of sexual harassment on YouTube and Tiktok. Journalist Ricardo Feltrin shared the material on his YouTube channel.

For the prosecution, by publishing the content, the two would be persecuting the victims or promoting persecution by unidentified third parties (internet users). The MP believes that the action would threaten the physical and psychological integrity of the victims, in addition to disturbing their freedom and privacy. The sharing would also have incited social media users to interact with the victims, causing emotional harm.

In the complaint document – which columnist Guilherme Amado, from Metrópoles, had access to – the MP states that the comedian acted in an “abusive manner” when defending himself against accusations of harassment on social media.

“By acting disproportionately to the alleged grievance, Melhem abusively exercised his right to public defense, violating the fundamental rights of the victims. The right to public defense soon revealed itself to be a truly angry – and profitable, as we will see later – exercise of revenge.”

For the MP, Melhem and Feltrin “exceeded the limits of reasonableness in their digital publications, by exposing intimate facts about the lives of the victims, thus reaching their psychological integrity in a deliberate and conscious way”, says an excerpt from the complaint.

Now, the accusation will be analyzed by the 20th Criminal Court of Rio de Janeiro.

Former Globo director responds for sexual harassment

The actor and former director of TV Globo, Marcius Melhem, became defendant for sexual harassment against three victims in August 2023. The decision of the Rio de Janeiro Court, by judge Juliana Benevides de Barros Araújo, was based on the complaint made by prosecutor Isabela Jourdan, from the Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro.

Among the victims in the case is actress Carol Portes, who said she had been sexually harassed by Melhem at the time he was the final writer of the program “Tá no Ar”, shown on TV Globo. Actress Georgiana Góes and another employee who preferred not to identify herself complete the complaints. Melhem denies the accusations.

The investigation that had Dani Calabresa and five other women as victims was archived “due to the punitive prescription of the facts”, according to the MP-RJ. The case in which the actor is currently involved is under judicial secrecy at the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

*With information from Diana Rogers