Iran Ferreira / Luva De Pedreiro (Mason's Glove)

About

Iran Ferreira, also known by his handle @luvadepedreiro or the Guy Wearing the Mason Glove, is a Brazilian creator on TikTok known for his soccer and fútbol content of him scoring goals, celebrating and performing juggling or dribbling tricks on a dirt field in his hometown. He started posting to the platform in early 2021 and has since grown a large following. His video style has been parodied and has garnered a reputation for his rapid-speaking outros where he speaks fast Portuguese, often saying the word "receba" that many people hear as "eseba." English-speaking TikTokers in the comment sections of his videos use the phrasal template, "Bro told us X," filling in the blank with what he probably said in translation.

Background

On March 12th, 2022, the YouTube channel Mundo JC posted a video titled "CONHEÇA A HISTÓRIA DO LUVA DE PEDREIRO (IRAN FERREIRA)," translating in English to "KNOW THE STORY OF THE MASON GLOVE." In the video, the YouTuber relays the background of Iran Ferreira, also known as the Mason Glove, related to the kind of gloves he wears in each video. Over the course of two days, the video received roughly 5,700 views (shown below).

The YouTuber revealed in the video that Ferreira was born in the state of Bahia, Brazil, where he still lives with his parents and family. When he started making TikToks, he was 20-years-old. His videos center on playing soccer, where he impersonates various, European footballers like Neymar Jr., Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, among others. These players are also known for wearing mason gloves as well.

Online History

Iran Ferreira posted his first TikTok^[1] on March 25th, 2021, featuring a video of him performing dribbling tricks in his home and garage. It received roughly 443,600 plays and 21,200 likes over the course of one year (shown below, left). Ferreira first went viral for one of his videos on April 29th, 2021,^[2] when he performed a skit impersonating Cristiano Ronaldo, earning roughly 1.2 million plays and 96,800 likes over the course of 11 months (shown below, center). However, the next TikTok^[3] he posted, on May 5th, 2021, surpassed his previous record by five times, earning roughly 5.6 million plays and 126,500 likes in 10 months (shown below, right). The TikTok involved him punting a soccer ball over the entirety of his home and then running to the other side of it. The video cuts and shows him controlling the ball on the other side with his knee, making it humorous in how obviously fake it was.

Because of his growing virality, Ferreira started posting his content to Instagram^[4] on May 16th, 2021, earning roughly 18,900 likes in 10 months for his first video on the platform (shown below).

According to Mundo JC's YouTube^[5] video, Ferreira started to receive backlash for wearing the mason gloves, however, he continued wearing them and decided to embrace the nickname.

Ferreira started becoming increasingly flamboyant with his post-goal celebrations in June 2021. He started acknowledging the camera after he scored in increasingly louder and crazier ways. For instance, on August 29th, 2021, Ferreira came up to the camera after he scored to trash talk the camera for the first time. He said the word, "Receba," in the video, which is a common Portuguese word that literally means, "to intercept or receive." It's used by Portuguese footballers to taunt their opponents because a better translation for it in English is, "How you like that?" The TikTok (shown below) received roughly 4.5 million plays and 319,300 likes over the course of seven months.

Despite him saying the word "Receba," English-speaking TikTokers on the platform misheard him, thinking that he was saying, "Eseba." This miscommunication became a meme on its own, often reiterated in the comment sections of his videos.

His TikToks continued to increase in plays, likes and comments going into early 2022. For instance, on December 13th, 2021, he received over 34 million plays for a TikTok over the course of three months (shown below, left). On February 16th, 2022, he received roughly 58.8 million plays in one month (shown below, right).

Within the comment section of the aforementioned TikTok, it can be seen that commenters are using the phrasal template, "Bro told us X," imagining what he's saying in Portuguese. For instance, TikToker Tomas Pulko875 commented, "bro told us the future," earning roughly 114,100 likes in one month (shown below).

Cristiano Ronaldo Reaction

On March 1st, 2022, Cristiano Ronaldo posted a now-deleted TikTok Duet with Ferreira, reacting to his video. It was reposted to YouTube on the same day by the channel V7 Fútbol, where over the course of 14 days, it received roughly 323,000 views (shown below).

June 2022 Manager Scandal

On June 22nd, 2022, a gossip journalist published an article revealing that Iran Ferreira's manager has allegedly kept the TikToker's money on hold, leaving him in a dire situation at his house in Bahia, Brazil. The Metropoles^[9] journalist Léo Dias published an article showing that, despite having already signed millionaire advertising contracts, Iran Ferreira's bank account had a turnover of only $7,500 R$. The fact made followers turn against Allan Jesus, the influencer's former manager, who had already been accused by many people on Twitter of not improving Iran's living conditions.

After the scandal went viral, several memes of Iran's manager appeared across social media. For example, a viral tweet posted on June 27nd, 2022, by Twitter user @paposfut that shows Iran Ferreira's face with the caption "DEVOLVA" ("return" in English), which is the opposite word to the phrase the influencer commonly says in his videos "receba." The tweet received over 234,000 likes and 33,000 retweets in less than a week since it was posted on the platform (shown below).

Luva De Pedreiro Meets Khaby Lame

On August 24th, 2022, the Brazilian influencer Luva de Pedreiro went to Italy and took the opportunity to record a funny video with the influencer Khaby Lame, considered a phenomenon on TikTok. he is one of the most followed people on the app in the world (148.5 million, as of August 26, 2022).

Luva Joins Brazil's World Cup Squad

On November 6th, 2022, the influencer announced on his Instagram^[10] page with the coach of the Brazilian national team, Tite, that he was the first player summoned to the World Cup of Qatar in 2022. The video (see below) has 1,6 million likes and 30,800 comments in three days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

^[9] Website – Metropoles

^[10] Instagram – Luva In Brazil's World Cup Team