2010 Carnival Fun in Rio de Janeiro

Celebrities in Rio add more fun to the carnival. Especially Madonna and Paris Hilton have been center of attention during the Rio Carnival which has begun on February 12th. Scottish actor Gerard Butler also seemed to enjoy the carnival fun.

Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro presented King Momo with the gold key to the city during the official opening of the Rio de Janeiro Carnival. It is declared that strict security measures are taken to ensure peace and safety of visitors during the Rio Carnival. As Rio de Janeiro will be hosting the 2016 Olympic Games, this will be an opportunity for this colorful city to show the ability of providing the safety of the visitors. Government declared that not even the simplest criminal offense will be tolerated and outbursts of drunken violence or urinate on the streets will be punished. More than 100 people have already been arrested since the opening. Rio de Janeiro aims for changing the reputation for high crime rates during Rio Carnival 2010, however some argue that such restrictions and too strict security may disturb the exciting atmosphere of the Rio de Janeiro carnival.

Madonna, who joined the Rio Carnival fun with her two children and Brazilian boyfriend Jesus Luz, attempted to perform some samba steps during the carnival parade. However the crowd and the security agents prevented Madonna from joining the parade fun. She had to watch the carnival parade from VIP box as the guest of Sergio Cabral, the Rio governor.

Rio Carnival fun with Madonna

Madonna in Rio carnival

Paris Hilton also watched the parade from a private box. However, her drunken outburst attracted a lot of attention in the world media. Paris Hilton attended the Rio de Janeiro carnival as the face of an advertising campaign of a Brazilian beer brand and she got drunk and crawled around on the dance floor, showing the whole world her thong. And she made sure that paparazzi got enough photos of her in a bikini in Copacabana Palace Hotel on St. Valentine’s Day.

Paris Hilton in Rio Carnival

Although Rio carnival fun goes on just like every year, this time it is very hot! Rio de Janeiro is one of the hottest cities in the world nowadays and paraders in heavy carnival costumes are having hard times in hot weather.

Another aspect of the Rio carnival attracted the attention of the whole world is the 7-year old carnival queen, Julia Lira. Child protection agencies argue that it is wrong to select a child for a sexually charged role. The little carnival queen broke into tears when the reporters suddenly threw lots of questions at her. The drum queens of the Rio carnival are traditionally chosen among sexy models or stars for their non-stop dancing skills in front of the drummers. Almost naked drum queens show their samba skills in their high heels. Therefore, a child in this role has led to heated debates. Another drum queen who is four months old pregnant was also center of attention.