Luciano Huck criticised over request to 'clean up' Indigenous culture ^{CEFR B2}

Behind-the-scenes footage from a TV shoot by Luciano Huck at Parque Indígena do Xingu in Mato Grosso reignited a national debate after it was posted on Instagram. The clip, which shows the host beside singer Anitta and lasts about one minute and twenty seconds, went viral and raised questions about how non-Indigenous media professionals represent native communities.

In the video Huck alerts people with "Cell phone!", asks those in "non-traditional clothes" to step away and tells the group to "clean up your culture," saying visible mobile phones would make the scene look less authentic. An Indigenous man on site translates the instruction. Indigenous organisations, including Apib and related regional associations, published a joint statement condemning the idea that cultures must be "cleaned up" and criticising the treatment of Indigenous people as objects for "pretty pictures." They argued that access to technology is a guaranteed right and noted that the internet and mobile phones help communities monitor and manage territories, access education and work, communicate with the state and report rights violations.

Apib republished the message and expressed "indignation." Huck replied on his Instagram stories saying he was misunderstood, pointing to his long relationship with Indigenous people and describing the request as "just an art direction’s decision, a punctual adjustment within the context of a film set, nothing beyond that." The Parque Indígena do Xingu covers around 27,000 square kilometres, was recognised by decree in 1961 and established in 1978, and today is home to 6,177 people from 16 Indigenous ethnicities. Nationally, the 2022 IBGE census recorded 1,694,836 Indigenous people and 391 ethnic groups, and Congress is considering a constitutional change on land demarcation that could be voted on this month.