RIO DE JANEIRO – Paulo Gustavo, a popular comedian whose character Dona Herminia dealt with everyday family and LGTBQ issues in some of Brazil's biggest-box office movies and television shows, died of COVID-19, sparking an outpouring of grief across a country polarized by the pandemic.
He was 42. Gustavo died Tuesday evening in a Rio de Janeiro hospital after spending nearly a month in intensive care. Fans had begun a vigil for him outside the hospital.
Conservative President Jair Bolsonaro, who tends to shrug off COVID-19 deaths and has downplayed the disease, tweeted his regret at the death of Gustavo, “who with his talent and charisma conquered the affection of all Brazil.” His leftist archrival, former President Luiz Inácio Lula da