News24 merch sold using the face of pro-migrant influencer

September 25, 2026 — 5:00am

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The rise of media outlet “merch” is one of the stranger trends of 2026. How those outlets design them says even more. The Age and The SMH have fairly simple tote bags and mugs. News24, formerly known as Sky News, launched its merch store with a set of MAGA-inspired swag.

One item caught our eye here at On Background. That would be a T-shirt to support presenter Gabriella Power’s digital-only show The Power Hour. It’s not the lovely looking T-shirt, so much as the handsome stock image chap pictured wearing it on the News24 store.

It turns out the gentleman News24 have superimposed its merch over appears to be a former Brazilian footballer named Felipe Gabriel Dos Santos Xavier, who became an online influencer in Latvia after retiring from the beautiful game. With an Instagram following of 279,000 in a country of less than 2 million people and a starring role in a 2020 Latvian comedy film, Xavier has become a pretty big deal in the small Baltic country.

But News24’s man has been at the centre of an even bigger story this year in his adopted country. Xavier has lived in Latvia for 10 years, but local law meant he couldn’t become a permanent resident until 2030 or citizen until 2035. That meant he risked deportation. So what did the Latvian government do? It granted him special citizenship, which caused a stir over why he was allowed to bypass Latvian naturalisation laws.

We know immigration is key topic for News24 locally, but overseas issues get serious air time as well, with hosts such as Rowan Dean raising the overheated prospect of a “civil war” over migrants in Europe. The EU’s “migrant crisis” has been a particular favourite on Power’s program too. Latvia is, of course, a member of that very bloc.

In 2020, Xavier posted a video to his YouTube channel saying he wanted to be an example for people of colour or foreigners who wanted to live in Latvia and addressing racism in the country.

“For example, two years ago and also last year when I was looking for an apartment all the time there........

© The Sydney Morning Herald