From the chair in Marçal to saying goodbye to the Band: Datena leaves the broadcaster and must go to SBT

The journalist José Luiz Datena is no longer part of the staff of the TV Bandeirantes. The presenter and the broadcaster announced, on Thursday (28), the end of the partnership, in “common agreement”.

At the end of October, shortly after the municipal elections, the band had already announced that Datena would no longer run the program Brazil Urgentone of the main attractions of its schedule. At the time, the broadcaster reported that it was thinking about other projects in the area of ​​“entertainment” for the presenter, which ended up not coming to fruition.

THE Brazil Urgentwhich premiered on band in 2001, it is one of the most traditional police programs on Brazilian TV. The attraction often fights for second place in ratings among broadcast stations in the late afternoon. Datena ran the program for 23 years

Datena’s departure from Band is confirmed after the journalist’s participation in this year’s municipal elections, as a PSDB candidate for mayor of São Paulo (SP).

After appearing in the first places in the initial polls on the electoral race, Datena lost traction, was very far from the first placed in the dispute and finished with just 112,344 votes, finishing a modest fifth place (with 1.84% of valid votes).

In the first round, the toucan was behind Ricardo Nunes (MDB), Guilherme Boulos (PSOL), Pablo Marçal (PRTB) and Tabata Amaral (PSB).

Read the full statement released by TV Bandeirantes on the departure of José Luiz Datena:

“By mutual agreement, Band and presenter José Luiz Datena terminate the contract.

Datena successfully and with a large audience commanded the Brasil Urgente program for years, as well as participating brilliantly in sports coverage and entertainment programs.

The Band reinforces the enormous affection for Datena and the bonds of friendship with the professional, who has had an enormously successful trajectory at Grupo Bandeirantes for more than 20 years.”

SBT should be the new home

According to information on the website TV Newsthe fate of José Luiz Datena must be the SBTwith whom the presenter would already have advanced negotiations. The hammer must be hit in the coming days.

In addition to the broadcaster founded by Silvio Santos (1930-2024), the now former employee of band also received surveys from RedeTV!but liked the proposal of SBT to run the program It’s time or a police news program in the late afternoon, along the lines of Brazil Urgent.

If this happens, Datena must be a competitor of his own son, Joel Datena, who inherited the presentation of the Brazil Urgent in band.

The “chair” in Marçal

Despite the very low vote and discreet participation in the 2024 electoral campaign, José Luiz Datena starred in one of the most memorable moments of the election in Brazil’s largest city.

Irritated by the provocations of his opponent Pablo Marçal, the PSDB candidate lost control and attacked his rival with a chair, in the middle of a debate promoted by the TV Culturaon September 15th.

Datena was expelled from the program, while Marçal was also unable to continue – and left the broadcaster’s headquarters directly to the hospital.

When commenting on the episode, in several interviews after the attack, Datena said that she was not proud of the act, but she also did not regret it.

“Pablo Marçal demonstrated, in every situation in which he had the opportunity, his lack of character. It also demonstrated that it is a threat to the city of São Paulo. He will be detained in the vote. But, despite this, it also needed to be contained with actions. That’s what I did”, explained the then candidate.

“Rollercoaster” in politics

Datena’s affiliation with the PSDB, singing a candidate’s speech, was nothing new. This had already happened countless times over the last few years, in a movement of comings and goings, announcements and withdrawals, which transformed the presenter into an almost folkloric character on the country’s political scene.

Before joining the PSDB, José Luiz Datena had already worked for a dozen parties of the most varied shades on the political-ideological spectrum, of all colors, from left to right. The presenter has already been part of PT, PP, PRP, DEM, MDB, PSL, PSD, União Brasil, PSC and PSB.

Mayor, vice or senator?

In her extensive party career, Datena was, more than once, one step away from running for important public positions – but, at the last minute, she always “refused”. This has occurred on at least 4 occasions in the last 8 years, since the 2016 elections.

Then a member of the PP, Datena had her name announced by the party to the city of São Paulo, based on internal research that showed the presenter comfortably leading the dispute – Fernando Haddad (PT) was the mayor at the time and suffered from low ratings of approval from São Paulo residents.

Datena ended up giving up on running and left the party after the publication of a newspaper report The State of S.Paulo realizing that the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) indicated at least R$300 million in bribes allegedly directed to the PP between 2006 and 2014, in cases of corruption at Petrobras.

Two years later, in 2018, Datena returned to the center of the political debate when her name was speculated as a possible candidate for the Federal Senate. He was in the old DEM (which merged with the PSL to create União Brasil), but again gave up on the venture.

Deputy of Bruno Covas

In the 2020 municipal elections, Datena was very close to being the running mate of then-mayor Bruno Covas (PSDB), who was seeking to renew his mandate. Then affiliated with the MDB, he had a series of conversations with Covas, who was excited about the possibility of having the presenter as vice-president.

In the final stretch, Datena – author of catchphrases that became iconic on TV such as “I want ‘ibagens’”, “put it on the screen”, “it’s just ours” and “help me there, man” – retreated once again, claiming that the TV Bandeirantes had asked him to remain at the station. The candidate for vice-president on the ticket was Ricardo Nunes (MDB), who would end up taking over as mayor after the death of Covas, in 2021, and is now seeking re-election.

Upon joining the PSDB, Datena recalled the episode and said that she made a mistake by not accepting Covas’ invitation. “I stopped being his deputy mayor and I think it was the worst thing I did. It ended up falling into the lap of the current mayor, who transformed São Paulo into what I saw coming here today”, he said.

In the 2022 elections, the dream of taking on a seat in the Senate once again crossed the presenter’s mind, who was leading voting intention polls. On the eve of the end of the legal deadline for her to leave television, Datena announced yet another withdrawal: “I thought about it and decided to follow my path”, she said.

From Lula to Bolsonaro, from Boulos to Doria

Datena’s party-political life began in the Workers’ Party, from Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The journalist was a member of the PT for 23 years, between 1992 and 2015, and always publicly rejoiced in the friendship he said he had for Lula.

The accusations of corruption that shook the PT, especially after the outbreak of Operation Lava Jato and the “petrolão” scandal, separated Datena from the PT members. During the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL)he approached the then President of the Republic – whom he interviewed a few times and with whom he held regular meetings, including at the Palácio do Planalto.

In 2022, when he was in the PSC, Datena was considered again as a candidate for the Senate, possibly with the support of Bolsonaro and the then candidate for the government of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans) – today governor of the state. Bolsonaro went so far as to say that he had “closed with Datena”, however, hours after this statement, the presenter thanked him for his support, but withdrew from the dispute.

Datena’s back and forth in politics also brought him closer to names such as federal deputy Guilherme Boulos (PSOL) and the former governor of Ceará and former minister Ciro Gomes (PDT).

In April last year, Datena appeared in a video alongside Boulos, in which they talked about the electoral scenario in the capital of São Paulo. “If you support the PT and we become candidates, if you tell Lula ‘I want Datena as vice-president and I’m sorry’, we can leave”, said the journalist, in the recording. After the video was leaked, Datena denied that she had asked to be Boulos’ deputy.

In 2022, the presenter was also speculated to be vice-president on Ciro Gomes’s ticket for the Presidency of the Republic. The two met to discuss the matter, but the conversations did not go any further.

Finally, José Luiz Datena has already declared support, in 2021, for the former governor of São Paulo João Doria (at the time, in the PSDB) for the Presidency of the Republic. The journalist was presented as a pre-candidate for senator for União Brasil, with the support of São Paulo’s tucanos, but withdrew from the race after Doria withdrew his presidential candidacy for not having obtained internal support within the party. “Doria made the wrong move again. He stops being the one betrayed by the PSDB and betrays Rodrigo Garcia. Consequently, I no longer have any commitment to this ticket”, stated Datena at the time.