Brazilian president Bolsonaro gets into altercation with heckler and tries to grab his phone

A YouTuber who filmed himself insulting Jair Bolsonaro almost lost his phone when the Brazilian president tried to grab it out of his hands.

Influencer Wilker Leão, who has more than 33,000 subscribers on YouTube, was among a group of people who surrounded Bolsonaro as he was walking outside his official residence in the capital Brasilia, Brazil on Thursday (18 August).

Footage shared by the YouTuber showed him waiting by the side of a road for a fleet of cars to arrive, after which the president emerged and began taking selfies with members of the crowd. At first, he looked happy enough to be on camera, but his mood changed when Leão started criticising him.

See the moment Bolsonaro flipped below:

A video filmed by an onlooker shows the president swiftly making his way over to the YouTuber, who was wearing a black, red and white top, and grabbing him by the shirt before reaching to try and grab his phone.

In the video, the president could be heard saying (translated): "Come here, come here to talk to me."

Leão continued to film throughout the altercation and appeared to put his hand on Bolsonaro's arm to try and push him away, but members of the president's security team grabbed the YouTuber and pushed him away from the scene.

The altercation took place as Leão branded Bolsonaro a 'coward', as well as hurling out other taunts, but just moments after he was grabbed by security the YouTuber was allowed to return to speak to the president.

CNN

In a caption alongside his videos, Leão said he had 'questioned Bolsonaro face to face about the limitation on the plea bargain that he sanctioned' and said he 'put him against the wall' with his questions.

The YouTuber is an army corporal known for filming his confrontations with Bolsonaro's supporters and sharing them online, and he can be heard in the video asking the president about his alliance with a group of right-wing and centre parties called 'Centrao', which holds a large number of seats in Congress in Brazil.

He commented: "I come here every day, Bolsonaro. Let's see if you have the guts to get out and talk to me."

CNN

Following the more heated altercation, Bolsonaro told Leão he could talk to him 'all you want', adding: "There's no problem. Why this aggressiveness?"

The YouTuber responded: "Because when I talk to you, sir, calmly, when I went there, I was forbidden to go in there again to talk calmly with you, sir."

Just two days prior to the altercation, Bolsonaro kicked off his campaign for Brazil's presidential election set to take place in October.

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Topics: World News, YouTube, Viral

Emily Brown

Emily Brown is UNILAD Editorial Lead at LADbible Group. She first began delivering news when she was just 11 years old - with a paper route - before graduating with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University. Emily joined UNILAD in 2018 to cover breaking news, trending stories and longer form features. She went on to become Community Desk Lead, commissioning and writing human interest stories from across the globe, before moving to the role of Editorial Lead. Emily now works alongside the UNILAD Editor to ensure the page delivers accurate, interesting and high quality content.