Following complaints, American Museum of Natural History cancels gala honoring Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro

Jair Bolsonaro.
(Image credit: Mauro Pimentel/AFP/Getty Images)

A gala dinner honoring right-wing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will no longer take place at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, following outrage by environmental groups and museum employees.

The Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce, which says it promotes "trade, investment, and cultural ties" between Brazil and the United States, rented space from the museum for its Person of the Year Awards Gala Dinner. Bolsonaro has said he wants to allow development in rainforests and roll back other environmental protections, and once word spread he would be honored at the event, environmental groups began pressuring the museum to cancel it.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.