Brazil's President Bolsonaro admits he'd eat human flesh

The success of Dahmer has got people talking about cannibalism, and now a video has resurfaced of the Brazilian president admitting he'd eat human flesh.

Jair Bolsonaro, now 67, made the unbelievable revelation back in 2016 to a journalist when he described a visit to an indigenous community that practiced cannibalism.

He claims that he was actually offered the chance to eat human flesh on the trip, and discussing the possibility on his YouTube channel, he said: "I'd eat an Indian, no problem at all."

The comments were deliberately unearthed ahead of Brazil's presidential race which will see the politician come up against his rival, Luiz Inácio 'Lula' da Silva, on 30 October.

His rival's team decided to recycle the comments to stir up sentiment against Bolsonaro.

An advert against the politician, above, featured a clip of him making the claim and said: "Bolsonaro has revealed that he would eat human flesh."

YouTube / Jair Bolsonaro

Bolsonaro initially made the comments to Simon Romero of the New York Times as he described a visit to Haiti, where he alleged that cannibalism is practiced in Yanomami territory of the Amazon.

"There was this time I was in Surucuru… and an Indian had died and they were cooking him. They cook Indians. It's their culture," he said.

The baffled journalist asked for clarification: "Their bodies?"

Bolsonaro then confirmed that he meant their bodies and went on to reveal that they ate them.

"They cook it for two or three days and then eat it with banana," he said. "I wanted to see an Indian being cooked but the guy said if you go, you have to eat it. 'I'll eat it,' I said. But no one else in my group wanted to go… so I didn't go. But I'd eat an Indian, no problem at all. It's their culture."

Alamy / REUTERS

However, the claims that cannibalism is practiced in the territory have since been denied by Yanomami leaders and anthropologists.

Júnior Yanomami told the Folha de São Paulo: "My people aren't cannibals… This doesn't exist nor has it ever existed, not even among our ancestors."

The denial of the claims was also backed up by Sônia Guajajara, an Indigenous leader, who tweeted: "Bolsonaro is a compulsive liar."

Bolsonaro has now hit out at the advert and claimed that his comments have been taken out of context, which appears to be the case.

Lula, meanwhile, said: "I saw the footage… It's no invention, we're simply letting people know what our opponent is like."

There's nothing like a bit of political tit for tat, right?