Conspiracy or cock-up?

An episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine that aired in Brazil put words into the mouth of one of its main characters to support President Jair Bolsonaro.

When the dialogue of detective Charles Boyle was redubbed into Portuguese, he appeared to be backing the controversial, populist leader, who has been likened to a South American Donald Trump. 

The mistranslation was reported by The Wrap, after first being noted by a Twitter fan account for the programme in Brazil and relates to the Halloween 2017 episode.

Needless to say, the character – played by Joe Lo Truglio –  made no mention of Bolsonaro in the original.

Although the mistranslation appears sinister, there may be a simple explanation.

In the episode, Boyle joins with Terry and Rosa to form a gang he calls ‘The Tramps’, which appears to have been misheard as Trumps and then altered for Bolsonaro.

For example in one line he boasts to rivals led by Andy Samberg’s character Jake Peralta: ‘Yeah, you guys may be champs, but this year this year belongs to The Tramps.’ 

With the last word changed to the Bolsonaros, the meaning changes substantially. 

The Wrap reports that the episode’s dialogue is being corrected by the dubbing company responsible after the mistake came to light.

Here’s the original and the dubbed version, for those who speak Portuguese:

No episódio 5x04 de Brooklyn 99 que foi ao ar na @TNTbr foram utilizadas adaptações na dublagem com cunho político atual brasileiro, o episódio e as cenas em si não tem relação nenhuma com política! No vídeo comparamos a versão original com a dublada pic.twitter.com/AGrVZoppFr

— Brooklyn 99 Brasil (@b99bra) March 9, 2019

Published: 15 Mar 2019