In contemporary Brazil, there are often deprecations of the ways of speaking of popular leaders, who are called “populists”. Considering this phenomenon, we proceed here to an analysis of the statements of the Brazilian press that depreciate the public speech of Lula. This investigation is based on the postulates and methodological procedures of discourse analysis. Our hypothesis is that the disdain for the language of the ex-president and the stigma of “populist” attributed to Lula in the Brazilian press are fundamental discursive devices to demean democratic proposals and political actions aimed at reducing social inequalities in Brazil.