Betina Botox and Lobixomen “Tão Engraçados!” Queer Brazilian Televisual Representations Shaping Spatial (Im)possibilities in Newark

Abstract

This ethnographic essay examines the ways two “tão engraçados” [very [RU1] humorous] televisual Brazilian queer representations—those of Betina Botox (a questionably-middle-class gay male from Sāo Paulo) and Lobixomen (a heterosexual man who turns into a wolf in drag under a full moon)—impacted queer Brazilian informants who lived in the Ironbound, a renowned lusophone immigrant neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey.  These representations influenced queers’ enactment of or resistance to norms of “good ethnicity.”  Ultimately, I show the ways these representations are symbolic of either LGBTQ+ publics at the center or Latinx counterpublics at the fringe within this exceptional neighborhood.