Datena and Marçal reach an agreement and cases regarding wheelchairs are closed

The Court approved an agreement between presenter José Luiz Datena and businessman Pablo Marçal to end the processes related to the aggression during a debate in the 2024 electoral campaign, when the two were running for mayor of São Paulo. On September 15 of that year, Datena threw a chair at Marçal during the TV Cultura debate.

The agreement was approved this Saturday (28) by judge Eduardo Francisco Marcondes, from the 10th Chamber of Private Law of the Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJ-SP), but the terms are confidential.

In one of the lawsuits, Marçal asked for R$100,000 in compensation for moral damages for the attack, alleging that the episode constituted an affront to his “personality rights, affecting his honor, his image and his physical and moral integrity”. The court had not yet ruled on the case.

In the other case, it was Datena who requested compensation for moral damages from Marçal, stating that the influencer suggested that he was a rapist by calling him “Jack”. He also asked for R$100,000. The court had denied this request in the first instance, in May 2025. Datena appealed to the TJ-SP and, this week, the presenter and the influencer reported that they had reached an agreement. As a result, all processes related to the topic will be archived.

Remember

The attack occurred after Marçal provoked Datena about an accusation of sexual harassment, which had already been mentioned in the first block of the program.

Datena called Marçal a “little bandit, little data thief” and stated that the accusation “cost him and his family a lot”. Marçal then said that “Brazil wants to know what time you will stop” and called the presenter a “arregão”.

“You came across the debate these days to slap me, you’re not even a man to do that”, said Marçal, who at this moment was hit by Datena.

After the attack, the program was suspended and Marçal was rushed to Hospital Sírio Libanês. At the time, the then PRTB candidate stated that he was “cowardly attacked by José Luiz Datena” and that he suffered fractures in his hand.

That night, Marçal began the debate by accusing Datena of having sexually harassed a Band employee.

“The playboys in the city of São Paulo don’t know what I’m going to say now, but those from the hood know. A man is a man, a woman is a woman, a rapist is different”, he said, quoting a song by Racionais MC’s. “There is someone here who is a “jack” (slang for rapist). He is someone who is responsible for sexual harassment. This person is a pity,” he said, in relation to the nickname “Dapena” he uses to refer to the presenter.

The case cited is a complaint made by reporter Bruna Drews, in January 2019. Datena sued her for slander and defamation. Nine months after the accusation, she signed a retraction at a notary’s office in São Bernardo do Campo.

In a representation made to the Public Ministry of São Paulo (MP-SP), the woman alleged that Datena told her that she did not need to lose weight because “she was very hot” and that she said it was a waste for her to “date a woman”. In an interview with the Universa portal, in October 2019, she said that she was “induced by Datena’s lawyers” to sign the letter in which she recanted the accusation. Datena stated, in the debate, that the case was closed by the Public Ministry.

“It was an accusation that the Police did not see any evidence of, nor did they investigate, the MP closed the case, the person who accused me publicly recanted in court, apologized to me and my family, it was a huge drain on my family, being accused of a crime like this is terrible and Pablo Marçal continues to be a bank robber duly accused and convicted”, said the presenter at the time.