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Mexican clown ends popular morning news show
One of Mexico's most popular and often hard-hitting news programs went off the air on Wednesday as Brozo the clown removed his wig and plastic nose to viewers farewell. Speaking haltingly and holding back tears, Victor Trujillo said he decided to end the 2,5-year morning news program due to the death of his wife, co-produced the program, a month ago. "It can't just go on as if nothing had happened,” he told reporters. "The fun was diminishing. I couldn't keep putting on the wig anymore. I was beginning to feel it was a heavy chain that weighted on me.” The emotional words of a devoted husband were sharply at odds with the portrayed by his salty, leering character, Brozo, a populist, adult oriented clown.
Brozo appeared daily to discuss and laugh the news, accompanied by a team of oddball assistants, ranging from a scantily clad "secretary” to a roaring, crazed street reporter in dark glasses and aviator jacket. He often used the circus atmosphere to draw viewers into serious subjects, breaking stories by interviewing top politicians about public policy even as more-conventional rival news shows on celebrity scandals and developments in "reality television” shows. "The idea was to make information attractive,” he said. It was the clown who embarrassed a leading Mexico City legislator, trapping the man on a live television broadcast and demanding an explanation while airing previously unseen videotapes of the politician his pockets with a businessman's cash. "Don't treat me a fool!” the angered clown shouted when the politician tried to explain the money away. Trujillo on Wednesday said it had been a "difficult” moment. "There's shame in all of this. It's not agreeable.”
Trujillo, 43 the Brozo character for years – taking the name from a play on "Bozo” the name of a famous clown and "la broza,” meaning trash, or in slang, a somewhat affectionate term for a group of rowdy or working class people. President Vicente Fox, whose wife Marta Sahagun appeared with Brozo, sent a letter congratulating Trujillo and saying that he had brought "a new style to broadcasting the news.” Trujillo said he didn't want his own unhappiness over his wife's death to affect the program: "At this point, I can't give myself the luxury of the risk.” Trujillo said he would continue to work with Mexico's top network Televisa, whose president, Emillio Azcarraga Jean, came onto the show on Wednesday to embrace Brozo. Trujillo said he was considering possible new shows.