Maurício Luiz de Souza (born 29 September 1988) is a Brazilian politician, former

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player, member of the

Brazil men's national volleyball team The Brazil men's national volleyball team is governed by the Confederação Brasileira de Voleibol ''( Brazilian Volleyball Confederation)'' and takes part in international volleyball competitions. Brazil has three gold medals at the Olympic Game ...

, 2016 Olympic Champion, silver medallist of the 2018 World Championship, gold medallist of the 2019 World Cup, three–time South American Champion (

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), 2014 Turkish Champion. He was sacked from the

Minas Tênis Clube Minas Tênis Clube (short, just ''Minas'') is a social, recreational and sports club from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. By 2013, it has more than 73,000 members. Its patrimony comprises two urban units, the Minas I and Minas II, and two country units, ...

and the national team in October 2021 after sharing a post about Jon Kent, the son of

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book ''Action Comics'' #1 (cover-dated June 1938 and publi ...

, being revealed to be bisexual. He later joined the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

in 2022. He participated as a candidate in the parliamentary elections in the same year, being elected as a

federal deputy The Chamber of Deputies ( pt, Câmara dos Deputados) is a federal legislative body and the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil. The chamber comprises 513 deputies, who are elected by proportional representation to serve four-year ...

from the state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

Personal life

Maurício Souza is married to Isabella Saldanha Castro and has two children, a girl and a boy.

Statements about homosexuals

Souza has posted homophobic messages on his

social networks A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

in the past, which generated controversy. In 2014 he made a post against homosexuality but apologized after a public backlash. Another made in 2017 was removed ten hours later. In 2021, Souza criticized the comic character

Jonathan Samuel Kent Jon Kent is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Dan Jurgens, the son of Superman/Clark Kent and Lois Lane, he first appeared in ''Convergence (comics), Convergence: Superman'' #2 (July 2015). ...

, who in the

DC Universe The DC Universe (DCU) is the fictional shared universe where most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. Superheroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Green Lant ...

is the son of Superman/Clark Kent and

Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in ''Action Comics'' #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning journalist for ...

, for being revealed as bisexual. After a negative reaction,

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

and

Gerdau Gerdau is the largest producer of long steel in the Americas, with steel mills in Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Peru, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela. Currently, Gerdau has an installed capacity of 26 mill ...

, sponsors of

, the team the athlete works for, demanded measures from the club's board of directors and repudiated the player's attitude. The sports team then decided to fine and temporarily remove Souza, in addition to stating that "the player's opinions do not represent the beliefs of the partner sports institution" and that he should recant. The organized supporters Independente Minas also released a statement in which it said it "will ignore the athlete Maurício Souza in social networks, games and demonstrations". After the controversy, Souza published a message of retraction for the statements on his

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account. However, on October 27, 2021, the team terminated their contract with him.

Renan Dal Zotto Renan Dal Zotto (born July 19, 1960) is a Brazilian former volleyball player who competed in three editions of the Summer Olympics and currently head coach of Brazil men's national volleyball team. He was born in São Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul. ...

, coach of the Brazilian Men's Volleyball Team, said he "was disappointed" with the conduct of Maurício Souza and that "there is no room for homophobic professionals" in the selection. As a result, Souza lost his place within the national team. 20 federal deputies from 13 states and seven political parties lodged complaints against him with the Public Ministry of Minas Gerais.

Sporting achievements

Clubs

CEV Champions League The CEV Champions League is the top official competition for men's volleyball clubs from the whole of Europe. The competition is organised every year by the European Volleyball Confederation. Formula (2018–19 to present) Qualification A tot ...

2013/2014 – with

Halkbank Ankara Halkbank Ankara is a professional men's volleyball team based in Ankara, Turkey and sponsored by the state-owned Halkbank. It was founded on 21 July 1983 as Halkbank Spor Kulübü with blue, white and red colors ...

* CSV South American Club Championship ** Silver medal southamerica

Florianópolis 2009 – with Brasil Vôlei Clube ** Silver medal southamerica

Belo Horizonte 2013 – with Vivo/Minas * National championships ** 2013/2014 Simple gold cup

Turkish SuperCup, with

** 2013/2014 Simple gold cup

Turkish Cup, with

** 2013/2014 Gold medal with cup

Turkish Championship Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

, with

** 2014/2015 Simple gold cup

Brazilian Cup, with Vôlei Taubaté ** 2019/2020 Simple gold cup

Brazilian SuperCup, with Vôlei Taubaté ** 2020/2021 Simple gold cup

Brazilian SuperCup, with Vôlei Taubaté

Individual awards

* 2013: Pan American Cup – Best Middle Blocker * 2013: Pan American Cup – Best Blocker * 2016:

FIVB World League The FIVB Volleyball World League was an annual international men's volleyball competition. Created in 1990, it was the longest and richest of all the international events organized by the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB). The wom ...

– Best Middle Blocker * 2020: CSV South American Club Championship – Best Middle Blocker * 2021: FIVB Nations League – Best Middle Blocker

Politics

Souza is a public supporter of

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and retired military officer who has been the 38th president of Brazil since 1 January 2019. He was elected in 2018 as a member of the Social Liberal Party, which he turn ...

. Shortly after the defeat of the Brazilian volleyball team at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

in Tokyo, he was received by Jair Bolsonaro and his son,

Eduardo Bolsonaro Eduardo Nantes Bolsonaro (born 10 July 1984) is a Brazilian politician, lawyer and federal police officer. He is the third child of Jair Bolsonaro, the 38th President of Brazil. Career He has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies since 20 ...

(PSL), at

Palácio do Planalto The Palácio do Planalto () in Brasília is the official workplace of the president of Brazil.Wallace de Souza Wallace Leandro de Souza (born 26 June 1987), known by the mononym Wallace, is a Brazilian volleyball player, member of the Brazil men's national volleyball team, 2016 Olympic Champion, silver medallist of the Olympic Games (London 2012), 201 ...

, his national team partner, went viral on the internet after posing for a photo in which they made, with their fingers, the number 17, which represented Bolsonaro in the ballot boxes during the

2018 Brazilian presidential election General elections were held in Brazil on 7 October 2018 to elect the president, National Congress and state governors. As no candidate in the presidential election received more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a runoff round was held ...

. After his firing for his homophobic comments, Souza joined the

in March 2022 to run for the position of

for

in the 2022 election. Souza said that he was running because there was a need for more officials who supported President Jair Bolsonaro. He won by a margin of over 83,000 votes.