Brazilians celebrated their victory over Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid and the right to host the 2016 Olympics not only in an improvised and anticipated Carnaval in the streets of Rio. There were celebrations also in the US, Europe and on.. Twitter.
Together with expressions of ‘Congratulations, Rio’ and ‘Parabéns, Rio de Janeiro,’ Brazilian twitterers introduced a mocking Obama-like slogan that on Friday afternoon had climbed to number one on Twitter’s Trending Topics. The winning phrase? “Yes, we créu.” An irreverent and risqué expression.
What the hell is “Yes, we créu?” twitterers from the rest of the world wanted to know. Twitter itself tried to answer the burning question with this explanation: “A pun on Barack Obama’s slogan “Yes, we can” and Brazilian funk performer MC Créu. It means something like, “Yes, we nail it,” and refers to Rio de Janeiro being chosen as the host of the 2016 Olympics.”
Twitter didn’t explain however that the word créu has an exclusive sexual connotation and is derived from a funk song, Créu (see below), whose lyrics repeat the term créu ad nauseam in a simulated sexual act that gets hotter and hotter. The word means to screw and to score sexually.
That’s probably why a Brazilian twitterer called MuriloM wrote at the end of the night: ‘De leve, vergonha do Brasil #Yes We Créu’ (Lightly ashamed of Brazil). Another one observed earlier: “The vulgarity started early.”
With Obama’s campaign motto ‘Yes, we can’ funkalized by Brazil, the trend resisted in the wee hours of this Saturday. A Brazilian nissei artist, Rodrigo Hashimoto, getting into the spirit of the game used Obama’s iconic “Yes We Can” poster and put in his place the face of Mussum, a deceased Brazilian black comedian from Os Trapalhões (The Bunglers) group.
“Mussum overcame Obamis,” some started to twitter. Obamis would be the way Mussum would pronounce the name of the American president.
Rio and the Brazilian victory only became popular on Twitter after Brazil was handed the victory in Copenhagen by the International Olympic Committee.
Friday morning Rio de Janeiro appeared briefly among the Trending Tropics but soon after disappeared. At that time Chicago, Madrid and Tokyo were getting more traction. After the victory however, the situation inverted and the Brazilian choice got up to 7 of the ten Trending Topics.
On Copacabana Beach, three Cariocas (Rio natives) embodied what became a perfect body translation of “Yes, We Créu.” Protected by two ‘FBI agents’ an Obama look-alike appeared at the side of a full-size picture of first lady Michelle Obama dressed in green and yellow, the Brazilian national colors.
Written by José Wilson Miranda
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