Antônio Augusto de Moraes Liberato, better known as Gugu Liberato or simply Gugu, was a Brazilian television presenter, entrepreneur, actor and singer.
Liberato began studying dentistry at :pt:Universidade de Marília|University of Marilia in Marilia, São Paulo, but dropped out when called by Silvio Santos, who invited him to take up a post in front of the cameras. One of his first programs in 1981 was the :pt:Sessão Premiada|Sessão Premiada São Paulo – Rio's version was by Paul Barboza. In 1982, Santos asked Argentine director Nelly Raymond to create a program for Saturday night. :pt:Viva a Noite|Viva a Noite was created, which was initially divided into several parts, and also presented by Ademar Dutra, Mariette Detotto and Jair Ogun. Following some format changes, Gugu remained alone in the program, then directed by Homer Salles. While anchoring :pt:Viva a Noite|Viva a Noite, Gugu also directed :pt:Domingo no Parque|Domingo no Parque for sometime and acted as the editor for the President's Week newsletter, which was aired in the commercial breaks between the :pt:Programa Silvio Santos|Program Silvio Santos show. After the success of the musical groupMenudo, which was extensively promoted by :pt:Viva a Noite|Viva a Noite in 1984, Gugu launched Brazilian musical groups of the same style, such as Dominó and Polegar, becoming a successful businessman. In August 1987, at the height of the success of :pt:Viva a Noite|Viva a noite, Gugu signed a contract with TV stationRede Globo. But on Saturday Carnival 1988, Santos went to meet the owner of the Rede Globo Roberto Marinho personally, in order to release the presenter so he could stay on SBT. Santos was about to undergo a delicate surgery and made a millionaire proposal to Gugu, offering him much of the Sunday's programming schedule. As a comparison, Liberato's wages increased tenfold, besides earnings coming from advertising. Liberato debuted in SBT Sundays on April 17, 1988, hosting alone programs like :pt:Passa ou Repassa|Passa ou Repassa and :pt:Cidade contra Cidade|Cidade Contra Cidade. Gugu also co-hosted Roletrando with Santos. The TV station Rede Globo, however, had already created a program for Gugu, and the program was ready but without a host. Rede Globo hired hastily Fausto Silva, who ran the Saturday late night show :pt:Perdidos na Noite|Perdidos na Noite at TV Bandeirantes. So the showDomingão do Faustão started, by chance, on Sunday afternoons at Rede Globo, filling a schedule previously occupied by American TV series. Even though Gugu was responsible for part of the Sunday programming, he remained anchoring shows on Saturday night, especially musical programs like :pt:Sabadão Sertanejo|Sabadão Sertanejo. The greatest success, however, came with the show :pt:Domingo Legal|Domingo Legal, which competed with Domingão do Faustão, ironically a program created to be his. The competition in the late 1990s was for a long period favorable to Gugu, which ended the decade with peaks above 40 rating points.
Liberato had a domestic partnership with physician Rose Miriam di Matteo, with whom he had three children: João Augusto, and the twins Marina and Sofia. On November 21, 2019, Liberato suffered an accident at his home in Orlando, Florida while trying to change the filter on his home's air conditioner; he fell from the roof of his home and hit his head. He was admitted to Orlando Health and it was reported that his condition was critical. Rumors of his death were initially denied, but the next day, on November 22, it was confirmed that Liberato had died.
