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 won three gold medals at the Olympic G ...

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

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

), 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

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, being revealed to be bisexual. He later joined the

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in 2022. He participated as a candidate in the parliamentary elections in the same year, being elected as a federal deputy from the state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

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

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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. He is the son of the superhero Superman and ''Daily Planet'' reporter Lois Lane. Created by Dan Jurgens, the character first appeared in ''Conver ...

, who in the

DC Universe The DC Universe (DCU) is the shared universe in which most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. In context, the term "DC Universe" usually refers to the main DC Continuity (fiction), continuity. It contains v ...

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'' Action Comics 1, #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning ...

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

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and

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, 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, 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 tota ...

2013/2014 – with Halkbank Ankara * 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 Halkbank Ankara ** 2013/2014 Simple gold cup

Turkish Cup, with Halkbank Ankara ** 2013/2014 Gold medal with cup

Turkish Championship, with Halkbank Ankara ** 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 wome ...

– 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 former military officer who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as a member of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies (Brazil), Chamb ...

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

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

in Tokyo, he was received by Jair Bolsonaro and his son, Eduardo Bolsonaro (PSL), at

Palácio do Planalto The Palácio do Brazilian Highlands, Planalto () in Brasília is the official workplace of the president of Brazil.

, in Brasília. On the occasion, Souza presented the politicians with t-shirts of the Brazilian volleyball team. His support for the Bolsonaro family had been known since 2018, when he and Wallace de Souza, 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

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during the

2018 Brazilian presidential election General elections were held in Brazil on 7 October 2018 to elect the president, National Congress of Brazil, National Congress and Governor (Brazil), state governors. As no candidate in the presidential election (and for the gubernatorial electi ...

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

in March 2022 to run for the position of federal deputy 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.