This story was initially going to be about Gina Rodriguez’s appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. I was actually mildly positive towards her, because I think she’s a good actress and she’s trying. Then I saw her interview on Sway in the Morning. Gina cries and defends herself for being called out for her comments dismissing black women. The Root does a good job of recapping Gina’s comments and I’m relying on their coverage. Gina said last year that Latina women get paid less than women of color (1:00 into this interview). (Update that may be true, but of course it’s controversial the way she brought it up.) She also tweeted that DC and Marvel weren’t doing well enough for Latinos (that’s below) and in an interview with Yara Shahidi, when Yara was told she was “goals for so many black women,” Gina interrupted and said “so many women” with the emphasis on women and repeated women like that. It’s at 2:00 into this interview.
On Sway in the morning Gina was asked about the backlash. Instead of saying she was sorry and needed to listen and learn, or even that she phrased it wrong and felt bad, Gina cried and kept saying she was misunderstood. She said that the press was using her as clickbait. Then she said that only the black community misunderstood her but that white people and Asian people didn’t! She also got into a convoluted argument claiming that she considers black people her community and everyone should understand her heart or something. She makes me tired.
Gina we’ve heard you speak out on behalf of equality. Have you been able to make sense of the backlash you got last year… and how black actresses tend to make more than asian actresses and asian actresses tend to make more than Latina actresses
What I was saying is that when we talk about equal pay we … all must rise [cries] The backlash was devastating to say the least cause the black community was the only community to look toward growing up. We didn’t have many Latino shows. The black community made me feel like I was seen. To get anti-black is saying that I’m anti family. My father is dark skinned he’s Afro-latino. My cousins are. Puerto Ricans are
African, Taino and Spaniard. It’s in my blood. That was really devastating to me. I know my heart. I know what I meant. I really wish that we weren’t living in a culture where we’re clickbait. I’ve never said anything controversial about anybody. The black community is my community. We have black Latinos…The opportunities I create and who I put in those spaces are both the Latino and the black community. It was a dark time for me. It made me get away from social media.
I know my intention. The last thing I want to do is put two underrepresented groups against each other. When that happened it was really hard. What do you say? Sorry for cheating when you know you didn’t cheat? That sh-t was real difficult. I have to keep my head up and know my heart and know what I do, and know who I am.
“The white community and the Asian community didn’t get mad at me”
It’s sadly a fact that Latinas in all industries make less money. It’s a fact and that sucks. It’s interesting because the white community nor did the asian community get mad at me. I found that very interesting that the one community I felt like I related to the most were the most upset with me. That was just devastating. How do you talk to so many people and let them know ‘that is so far from my heart?’ If you go and see the interview, I was not comparing anyone. [Ed note: 1:00 into this video]We should be… joining forces not fighting one another. I felt their pain and I will always apologize sincerely from the bottom of my heart if I caused pain on anyone because that is not who I am. But that felt really far left field for me. I just didn’t know how to control that. You can’t seriously watch that interview and thing that I’m putting us against each other. You just can’t…
People forgot that I advocate for all Latinos not just a reflection of myself. If I have hurt you I am sorry and I will always be sorry but until you know my heart… we can’t just live off clickbait guys.
She opens by saying “We didn’t have many Latino shows” so she had to look to the black community. This is mostly all about HER and how devastated she was. She doesn’t issue a full apology, she says she’s sorry if she caused pain and she actually said that only black people were misinterpreting her. She can definitely act and put emotion into it like she’s sorry, but read and watch what she actually said. She just showed her whole ass.
The interview is at 12 – 19 in the video below. There’s are also tweets with some excerpts if you’d like to just see it in small doses.
Excerpts:
Here's Gina Rodriguez crying because she's been rightfully called anti-black pic.twitter.com/6YcX4AO7jT
— fiona apple bottom jeans (@danielleisback_) January 23, 2019
She also wants us to know whites and Asians weren't offended by what she said pic.twitter.com/GrkuxEYngr
— fiona apple bottom jeans (@danielleisback_) January 23, 2019
Marvel announces Black Panther.
Gina Rodriguez: pic.twitter.com/76pmKaSS9o
— J. Holiday’s Gucci Jacket (@eleven8) January 23, 2019
Just a small correction/gripe- her father is a dark-skinned Latino, so while he’s Afro-Latino he’s also of African ancestry and might identify as black. I am Afro-Latina with dark skin, and I am black. I’m treated as black on the streets and by cops and by employers, of you took me and plunked me down 200 years ago slave owners wouldn’t be like “oh wait she speaks Spanish never mind.” Afro-Latinos are black too- we may not be African-American but that doesn’t give us race privilege.
The root had pictures of her dad from the golden globes-and he has the same skin tone as her (at least in that picture) I can’t say how he self identifies but I’m kind of giving her side eye about that. https://goo.gl/images/dG3s2r
She just keeps saying things that are very divisive to various POC, trying to put other groups down to make it all about her, and she’s but down black people plenty of times in the past on twitter. Love her on her show but no……not for me.
@SCAL
Agree 1000%. At the end of the day she’s DIVISIVE and continues to put other minority groups down as a way to highlight her individual self. She’s not an ally. Period.
Pretty sure people would see her dad as trigueño, which is basically a term for three mixes: indigenous, Black, and white. That said, people probably wouldn’t identify him as only Black, but trigueño, but he might self-identify that way.
I think sometimes people in the US apply US-centric views of Blackness on the Islands and/or Latin America. Colorism is an even bigger issue there than here… Like I don’t want to doxx myself, but I am Black but in the place I was born I am called/considered a term people use for mixed people of two specific groups. If someone was describing me, they wouldn’t say “that tall Black woman wearing a red shirt” but “that tall _______ woman wearing a red shirt.”
That said, Gina was born in Chicago and should be more than aware of Blackness in America. She comes across as clueless and ignorant. I don’t think she has horrible intentions, but she needs to educate herself.
Pictures I saw of her dad he is noticeably darker than her. Maybe it’s a trick of the light but it was several pictures in Google Images. Not super darker but he is darker. Now I’m not about to try to start the whole “is he dark enough to be black” argument because I have no idea and I don’t know how he identifies. Gina has her Mom’s skin tone and they are both noticeably lighter.
I do think her message is very confused… I get she wants representation for Latinos and maybe she is frustrated they keep getting forgotten (in her viewpoint, I can’t say that’s true because I’m not a POC). It is my impression that when we talk about POC it is mostly about African Americans and Asians but again that’s just my perspective as a white person so what do I really know. But to talk over Yara like that… is incredibly rude and tone deaf and minimizes Yara’s accomplishments.
I was trying to figure out why her “whatabout”-ism bothered me so much…and it’s because it’s racist! It’s the same tactics all racists use to change the subject!
Here’s an idea: instead of crying butthurt tears of self pity, how about thanking black filmmakers for what they’ve done for all of us and FILM ITSELF the past several years?? Not to mention CONGRATULATING them on their incredible achievements?? Not only have they opened doors they’ve TORN DOWN THE DAMN HOUSE. Ever heard of credit where credit is due?
They’re not your ladder to step on and climb yourself higher.
I think some black latinoswere spared the apartheid in the USA, like foreigner black baseball players. A few of them (maybe the well paid- famous ones) could get into nightclubs otherwise prohibited to black African Americans. Weird how racism works.
About this topic, there were calls from people from other ethnicities to be taken into account when that white oscars thing 2 or 3 years ago. I recall a black female celebrity saying that the movement was for black people, that Latinos could fight their own fights (paraphrasing). It seems to me that blacks have louder voices in these questions. It is complicated, and it is sad how it ends up pitying one demonized ethnicity vs the other.
What about the racism that exists in Spanish speaking countries? When you look at what Sammy Sosa has done to himself, the mental damage runs deep.
April Reign is the black woman who started #Oscarssowhite, and she has been a vocal advocate for all POC, including Latinx and Asians. I saw some interviews with people who worked on Crazy Rich Asians, who even gave credit to the black Hollywood community for helping to pave the way for more diversity.
There may be some black people in Hollywood who exclude other POC, but I don’t think they represent the majority of black people.
From what I’ve seen, the pushback is that some Black people don’t feel they should be the “mules” for other races to use in the fight for equality; that it seems Black people will fight for equality / recognition and other races will coast on that tide vs fighting as loudly themselves. It’s complicated but I think those who have problems with people they feel expect Black people to fight for them instead of them fighting for themselves have been clear on their reasons.
Ok I will edit that part, appreciate the clarification.
No one in the States would ever ever ever look at her dad and think “Black”. Ever.
@LuLu you seem so sure about knowing what Everyone in the states would think while proving you know Nothing about “Black in the States”. Your ignorance is astonishing.
Her dad looks more native to me.
He looks racially ambiguous as does many African Americans in the states whose genetics are usually diverse, it is as if people have 1 or 2 ideas about how black people should look. Her dad looks very similar to my father and his brothers who have green/gray eyes, light skin and wavy hair vs his sisters who are darker with dark eyes and coarse hair.
Latin countries have way more miscegenation than US and your views of who is black or white don’t apply here. It’s not your place to define what shade is black or what shade is white. Period. Americans should be more open to understand how things work in Latin America before throwing lables.
I truly don’t understand the twitter exchange. If she is concerned about Latino representation, what does Black Panther have to do with that? The Root article implies some Marvel actresses (Tessa Thompson, Rosario Dawson) are Afro-Latina, but they weren’t in BP, were they?
She only does that to Black people.
When girl’s trip came out, she made a similar comment about a Latina version (but she’s never said a thing about all the all white women’s movies).
Some reporter was complimenting Yara Sahidi on being a good role model for Black girls, she reprimanded him for saying black,
Because it’s causing division within women, but minutes before that, she was taking about her projects about Latinas.
She also had a brunch to celebrate Latinas in Hollywood (she copied the idea from black women in Hollywood) but she didn’t invite any black Latinas. When called out she was asking Twitter to give the names of Black Latinas, then pretended that she invited some of them, Dascha polanco called her out on that lie.
Thank you. It is only with black people that Gina “WhatAbout” Rodriguez pops her head up. Crazy Rich Asians. Dead Silence. And the whole, “I don’t know of any afro-latinas” When I am black and can name 3 without thinking: Gina Torres, Lauren Velez, Zoe Saldana. And isn’t it interesting that she is now saying that her slightly tan Dad is afro-latino which would make her part afro-latina but she doesn’t include hersellf?
@coco this is super helpful context, thank you, and to clarify I 100% believe she’s in the wrong. It’s this specific twitter exchange (and I don’t use Twitter, so this may be crazy obvious to other people).
It looks like on 7/23/17 she made a general comment about how there are too few Latinos at Marvel, and then, on 1/22/19, someone called her out for not being more excited about Black Panther? I just don’t get the connection. How was her tweet seen as having anything to do with Black Panther? I clicked through, but it takes you to the second tweet. I know there’s something I’m missing…
She talked about how Marvel doesn’t include Latinos forgetting about the Afro-Latino actors who have been cast ie Tessa Thompson (Thor), Rosario Dawson (Netflix Marvel shows), Zoe Saldana (Guardians/Avengers), and Dania Ramirez (X-Men). Basically she’s ignorant as hell and loud and wrong.
She’s a racist capitalist. It’s that simple. She’s thinking of success as a zero sum game, positioning Black Americans against Latinos in competition for a piece of the pie. So long as you have that worldview, you will always climb over other people to get yours.
Um, Zoe Saldana is Latina. Maybe she forgot??
I’m not liking her comments overall but she’s not wrong about Marvel especially. So among the superheros there is Zoe Saldana and……….. *crickets*.
Oh I almost forgot! Michael Peña as a hilarious fast-talking sidekick criminal! Never seen a Latino in that role before.
She’s wrong about a lot, but not that.
Zoe Saldana
Tessa Thompson
Rosario Dawson
I’m not saying that’s a ton, but it’s weird that she forgot about those actresses. And then her saying only black people got upset at her didn’t help her cause.
Rosario Dawson does not play a superhero. Benico del Toro has been in Guardians as…not a hero.
So we have two in the movies? And zero male Latino heros? Yeah again she’s not wrong. Her mistake was the Black Panther connection (because it’s GREAT that Panther exists). That’s the wrong target. But yes I think it’s fair to say after over a dozen movies Marvel has an appalling lack of Latinx (and Asian while we are at it) representation.
Until Black Panther came out there was more Latina representation in Marvel films than there was for Black Women. The problem is that Gina seems to think it’s some kind of race or rivalry and keeps pointing out whenever black people achieve something within Hollywood. Why tweet about Latino Representation right after Black Panther is announced but didn’t say a peep when all the fifty million other Marvel films cames out??
@valiantly varnished Exactly. BEFORE BP, black people were in exactly the same boat. We now have had one movie. I HOPE we will see more Latinx and Asian actors in Marvel movies soon. Just don’t make it a competition among POC. We have seen the success of BP and Crazy Rich Asians, we know people want to see POC on screens. Now, let’s make it happen without disparaging any successes each group has.
Apparently Zoe Saldaña has said some problematic things *I haven’t read them, just heard from friends…
She basically didn’t want acknowledge being Afro-Latino. She even stated that she saw herself as a Latina and that’s it. It was only when she had that Nina Simone vanity project that all of a sudden she wanted to talk about the Afro part of herself. I’ve never liked her for exactly this reason. She only felt the need to acknowledge her blackness when she stood to profit from it.
Yeah this also bothered me! I didn’t know about her self-denying her blackness when all the Nina Simone controversy was happening, and I actually loved how she spoke about her experience as a black Latina. And then I found out she was just doing that for publicity/only black when it’s convenient for her and that annoyed the $%&# out of me. Many of us don’t only get to be black when it benefits us. We’re black every single day and we love our heritage and ancestry.
Yep, I can’t with her. Sis, you don’t have to acknowledge the Afro part (even though you are darker than I am and I identify), but don’t then do it when you’re trying to make money off the story of a black icon.
@Mia4s I agree about the lack of poc representation in Marvel but Gina only thought to bring that up when Black Panther was released. She seemed fine when predominantly white civil war and avengers were released.
Also, Into the Spiderverse was huge and featured an afro-latino lead in Miles Morales yet Gina said……nothing. Her interest is only a certain type of Latinx
That said, Marvel has several Latina/o characters that they can choose from, and it’s time they did.
She seems like she feels a lot, maybe she should try listening to criticism and correct herself instead of instantly feeling hurt and attacked.
Omg the twitter thread from the embedded tweets has me SCREAMING I am on the floor
Having just retired after 35 years in the business world, I am still saddened that too many women do not understand that the way we all get ahead is by supporting each other. Men understand that concept very well. Women are still behind in that area.
Agreed! But that’s the awfulness of the (mostly white) patriarchy. We’re conditioned to turn on each other for the small slice of the pie offered to us instead of collectively demanding more.
@PhillyGal & @Coco
Agreed and agreed.
She seems so clueless in her well-meaning defense of Latinas.
Well said!
While Rodriguez has made some very problematic comments and seems to have trouble with self reflection and apologizing, I have issue with The Root reporting in this piece. They reference Sofia Vergara as the top paid TV actor but use Forbes, which takes into account all her sponsorships. She doesn’t represent what the average Latina actress makes. The writer kept mentioning Rodriguez was wrong about her pay disparity statistics in terms of Hollywood but never gave any proof to why except that Vergara makes a lot of money. We don’t really know what are the differences in pay disparity amongst different groups of Hollywood actresses so why does the author keep saying she’s wrong without any proof? It’s a weird article. Obviously, Rodriguez handled this poorly but so did the article.
Absolutely agree that Vergara is the exception to the rule.
Agreed. I think Gina comes across as ignorant, and I do find it anti-Black that she keeps singling out Black films, Black stars (to put the all women), etc. I gave her the benefit of the doubt at first, but she keeps doing it over and over again….
But as wrong as Gina is, Sofia’s money comes mostly from the huge production deals she does and she is very much the exception to the rule. On average, there are far more successful Black actresses than Latinx and Afro-Latina actresses. And American Black and Latina actresses both dwarf Asian and MENA representation in the US.
Her problem is that instead of going, “hey we need more representation for the Latino community”..she frames it almost like a competition and has to insert herself in moments of Black joy.
Agreed she probably needed to handle the situation better but to pretend she’s wrong about the pay situation is also not great. In the non Hollywood world Latinas make about 10cents less than black women and about 20cents less than white women for every dollar a man makes. To say “well in Hollywood that’s just not true “?! And the only actress they note in the root is Sofia who sure as hell isnt the norm. You cannot mold facts to fit your narrative. Hopefully Celebitchy updates the article because to say Yup that’s right is not right. Yes Gina shouldn’t have been so defensive about the response but to say she’s completely wrong?! I’m Latina and hope to see more representation in the media and not just stereotypes. I’m not going to cancel Gina because she’s a voice we need and I believe she’ll grow from this and speak up for not only Latinas but all WOC.
Ok I’ll edit that part about the pay gap, that’s a fair point.
@JB if Gina was speaking about all industries and not just Hollywood: it may be true that Latina women are paid the least. However, Asian women make more than black women, so why did Gina say that black women make more? I want to give her the benefit of the doubt, but it does seem as if she has a history of subtly shading black women.
Regarding who has it worse in Hollywood
…I think it’s a complicated issue. In general. Latina women are often seen as being more beautiful and desirable than black women, and as a result are more likely to be cast in romantic leading-lady roles. Things are starting to change, but for a while you would often see a Latina actresses cast as the love interest, even opposite black male actors.
On the other hand, when it comes to gritty, oscar-bait roles, black actresses do seem to have more opportunities. Viola Davis, Regina King, and Octavia Spencer are examples. Although it’s worth noting that those actresses were undervalued for a long time, and it took them decades of hustling before they finally started to get the recognition they deserve.
In any case I hate to see divisiveness between WOC. We all need to support each other.
@JB I mean, so far, she hasn’t shown she wants to grow unless doubling down on being called anti-Black is growth? And it still doesn’t address her anti-black behavior so far and why she feels it’s a competition between Latinx and Black people cause she only seems to latch on to Black successes in her “what about Latinx people?” moments. So her being a loud & wrong voice out there isn’t really helpful to anyone.
Gina, ugh problematic for no reason. I didn’t think she intentionally put down AA women but she did. I don’t think she’s wrong to want to represent latinax but she’s a terrible communicator and must do better.
+1
I understand what she was trying to do in the Yara situation (similar to Charlize and Viola), but girl just stop. At the same time I understand the dialogue must happen in order for everyone to do better. So let her continue to show her ass and we correct her if she is sincere.
My problem with the Yara clip was that she was trying to speak for Yara. Yara wanted to communicate that it means something to her that she is an inspiration to BLACK GIRLS. it’s a personal appreciation that means a lot to her for a special reason. I’m sure Gina feels pride that she may be an inspiration to Latina girls. What’s her problem? She wants to represent her own ethnicity, yet has a problem when black people get any separate glory.
@Iknow Exactly. This smacks of what white women say to me all the time in various contexts when I mention something specifically about Black women and they’ll correct me or edit it to be “women” and it’s like, the point is about *Black* women. The only way I deal with it is to insist on my original point to varying degrees depending on if it’s a stranger, the nurse at the clinic, or a colleague.
That’s a shame. I think she’s done some great things for the Latinx community, and I think she genuinely DOES try. Her intentions are good, and I think she really pours her heart into anything she does. So I understand why she would feel hurt because it was not her intention for things to go this way. But I think a better apology could go a long way here. Accept that you’ve made a mistake and grow from it. But she does strike me as someone who genuinely invests so much in any cause that she’s interested in supporting, so I get the emotional reaction whether or not it’s appropriate.
The issue with Gina is that, while she is trying to uplift the Latinx community, she does it by downplaying the contributions of black people in the industry.
Every time black people (especially women) achieve something she screams WHAT ABOUT US! She did it for black panther, with Yara Shahidi etc, but only had praise for Crazy Rich Asians and kept her whataboutisms to herself. It’s like it bothers her to see AA people winning at something that she thinks latinas deserve. It’s annoying because black people aren’t the Hollywood gatekeepers yet she never has anything to say when movies with primarily white casts are released.
Her statement about asian and white people not being offended is jarring. It’s a thinly veiled implication that black women are bullying her, which to those of us that recognise it, is a huge dog whistle.
Exactly. Lift up Latinas, Gina, but not on the backs of Black women. We can’t have our successes without her saying “What about Latinos?” It feels very much like jealousy. But the truth is that black folks aren’t the flag bearers for every minority community. We are all victims of white supremacy. Stop pitting is against one another because you feel you haven’t gotten as far as blacks. Be as vocal as we have been. Be like Constance Wu. Be like Mindy Kahling. Make your own movies. Gina reminds me of Salma Hayek. Salma made her own movies about the culture. I thought she was an ally until she talked over a black woman and that woman’s experiences.
THIS
“It’s a thinly veiled implication that black women are bullying her, which to those of us that recognise it, is a huge dog whistle.”
It’s typical weaponized tears used against big bully black women (why bring up those who WEREN’T offended to “apologize” to those who MAY have been…?). And comfortably using them on a show where the host himself almost twisted the friggin arm of a fellow AfrAm male artist to make him concede to “What about Latin women?” when speaking positively abt black women is par the course for Sway.
Like LaLa said below, she’s from Chicago. She KNOWS what she’s doing, even if y’all don’t.
Gina and I are from the same city…walked many of the same streets…there is a HUGE issue between Latinos and Blacks in the Chicagoland area that is mirrored nation-wide…there’s a reason why Gina is so comfortable with anti-Black narratives…she’s reflecting the behavior that is exhibited WAY TOO OFTEN in our hometown…
@Lala11_7, the first time I was ever called n*****, was in a Mexican neighborhood in Pilsen in the 1970’s. Found this interesting since the majority were darker than me.
Oooh girl you just said a thing. Lifetime Chicagoan here. And some of the most racist and anti-black experiences I’ve had have been with Latinos. There is a VERY strong anti-black sentiment within the Latino community that needs to be acknowledged and dealt with.
@V.V….BABY…THIS!!! Going on Commercial Avenue back in the day if you were Black? I DECLARE. WAR! Even though Commercial Ave. is right up from where I lived…where my people STILL LIVE…and the person who wanna rumble with me is as dark as me…and ALL I’m trying to do is go to Buster Browns to get some shoes….
If you all REALLY wanna see some ultra violence in Chicago…
Call a Mexican a Puerto Rican…..
THEN RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!
It’s exhausting…sad…and the power structure plays BOTH groups against each other….
Exactly, even though it’s a wildly diverse city there is a segregation and racism. I wasn’t born here but I have lived here for 13 years and it’s my home. I was thinking the same thing but wasn’t sure how to phrase my thoughts, well put.
There’s a reason why Dr. Martin Luther King said that he had NEVER encountered the racism that he encounter in Chicago when he marched in Marquette Park…before in his LIFE…and that included the backwoods of Alabama AND Mississippi…the racism in Chicago is OFF THE CHAIN…and it’s ALL piled on top of Black folks….but nobody wants to talk about that….
Was just thinking that. I’m half Dominican and half Puerto Rican, and Lord knows my people are very anti-Black. As anti-Black as Dominicans are, I’ve found it even stronger among Puerto Ricans (with my own Puerto Rican mom being called the n word by her own family as a child because she’s the dark one). There is a huge issue there, with many non-Afro Latinas fetishizing AA culture while putting down AA, especially AA women. Many Latinas want to be part of AA culture even though there’s a feeling of superiority there and get really offended when AA don’t include them in everything. That’s also why she’s singling out Black people but not Asians or Whites. I’ve seen it way too often and maybe I’ve been guilty of that myself in the past, idk. There are many layers to this. Whatever the case may be idk Gina rubs me the wrong way and I can definitely see why she’s problematic and find her to be self-serving.
Gina, Black women inside and outside the industry heard you loud and clear.
White people understood what I was saying…🙄🙄
I find it promblematic that instead of singling out the overrepresentation of Whites in film, Gina keeps singling out Black representation as though there is too much of it.
Additionally she does not seem to acknowledge Black Latinas. People have already mentioned her completely ignoring Tessa and Zoe in the Marvel movies. When she held her Latina Luncheon she was called out for having no Black latinas . She claimed not to know of any then asked followers to name some that she could invite in the future.
It’s clear when she speaks of representation for Latinas she does not consider Black Latinas sufficient.
Black and Latina people have to be more supportive of one another. Gina is an example of how we’re failing, and her non apology is bs.
Instead of whining about how your feelings were hurt, dig in. She could have talked about how colorism hurts Blacks and Latinos instead of claiming innocence based on her proximity to an alleged dark skinned Afro Latino (her dad is not dark FYI). While you are asking for examples of Latino women in films and tv, why don’t you ask for examples of dark skinned Latinos? Hell if you want to be radical, why aren’t there any on YOUR show?!?
This was a teachable moment. Take both communities to task about how we have embraced colorism to our own detriment. How her refusal to acknowledge that her success is somewhat attributed to her visual proximity to a white standard of beauty, and THEN maybe she would understand why Black people were/are SO annoyed.
And for the record, black film makers and producers have been lifting up Latino actors since day 1. ( Rosario Dawson, Zoe Saldana, Tatiana Ali, Gina Torres, etc)
Word!
I never liked this empty headed cow. She is cancelled for me. She needs to go back into obscurity.
It’s Sway not Shay
And yes I remember her going on about how Girls Trip and BlackPanther and where was the Latin versions at? He Gina why the silence from you when Bridesmaids or Iron Man, Thor or captain America we’re released? She waits for another minority group has their moment and derails that conversion for your own. If the interviewer asked her how she
felt to being and inspiration to young Latin women everywhere would she have said to all women? I highly doubt it , but that’s HER propagative. Let Yara have her moment! Her problem is what so many up thread said she waits for African Americans to succeed and then she cries foul unfair to the Latin Community. When African Americans see injustice we point it out to the group that is in charge, producers, executives the people who make the decisions in granting who can make what entertainment. Whether it’s Ocars So White or the MeToo movements.
Gina if you thought those fake tears were going to get the Black community to see your new movie think again.
I’m so sick and tired about this messed up world judging skin tones/colors. Some people tan themselves to a crisp, others do incredibly harmful things to lighten their skin; the whole thing is a sad mess.
I wish variation was celebrated. We’re not bloody sheep. Different is a way of life, we’re all built on different.
One culture being respected shouldn’t mean another culture is less. We don’t need to stand on the shoulders of others to get bigger and better. I wish there was more unity all around the board. Sadly, the divisive ego of people make it so exhaustively difficult. Someone doesn’t need to be better for everyone to be good.
I know what I want is simplistic, but that’s the point; it’s so simple that a child does it…until said child grows up under the umbrella of racism and hate. It’s usually a learned behavior.
I have people in my own family that don’t understand this concept of different not being a bad thing. Do you, live your truth, bless.
People find children naive and, yet, the unbias they have at the start is brilliant.
I’m sure Gina probably intended to mean well, but her statement was devisive and not well thought out. It hinted at: Us against them mentality and THAT is ALWAYS a slippery slope. Crying and begging to be understood here will not help her. My personal suggestion is that she recognizes how this comes across, where her thought process and truly think about it, not for the fans, or her publicists, but honestly for herself. Many people can sense growth as opposed to pandering.
No career is worth your integrity.
Then again, don’t say it if you don’t mean it. Don’t “apologize” if that’s not what you believe. That’s no good, either. I’m a fan of authentic behavior. Considering the insanity of the world at current, I doubt she’s going to lose too many fans criticizing another race. She might even be able to run for President.
The last sentence here was sponsored by jaded snark and I approve this message.
your relationship to blackness does not prevent you from being anti-black. Your celebration of latinx success excludes afro-latinx individuals. Non-Black latinx individuals are given more opportunities than Afro-latinx people. Your advocacy doesn’t express this. That is decidedly racist….
I haven’t even touched the need that every all black movie u bring up the need for a Latina version…didn’t see that for crazy rich Asians
Oh geez. I think she’s well-intentioned, but she needs to learn how to lift the Latinx community up while not feeling the need to put anyone else down.
I do understand that it’s a difficult topic to bring up without making it sound like a competition, though. As someone with a disability, I’m hurt that I’m often left out of the inclusivity conversation — when people talk about diversity and inclusion, they tend to mention gender, race, and sexual orientation, but rarely physical or mental disabilities. I’d love to write about it or talk about it more, but I really don’t know how to broach the topic without making it sound like I’m jealous or putting others down — which isn’t my intention whatsoever. I celebrate inclusion of any and all kinds because I know how it feels to be consistently left out. So yeah, it’s hard to talk about in a way that will come across as sensitive and respectful.
I didn’t know white woman tears came in brown.
hahahahahahahahahaha!
I love your username!
My daughter is very fair skinned, blond haired, blue eyed. I’m biracial. My mother is black. My daughter claims her black heritage. But of she ever opens her mouth so foolishly and chooses to ignore the experiences and struggles of more black appearing folks, I will call her anti black myself.
Your skin and/or heritage does not make you immune to regurgitating the colorism and racism that permeates our society.
Go learn something, Gina.
I’ll say it once more, in a better way, we do not to stand on the shoulders of others to be giants.
The problem is that she is not putting in the work to understand why she was in the wrong, instead she crys about being misunderstood. She calls her dad Afro-Latino and then turns around and dismisses them from her Latino respresentation conversation. At the very least, she should try and understand why being quantative when talking about POC is offensive.
I know this isn’t really a direct response to Gina’s comment, but boy does it frustrate me to see people misuse the terms “Latino” and “Hispanic.”
@syd, i hate to sound ignorant but can you tell when it is proper to use Latino/Hispanic? I’m not sure what the difference is between the two and which term is proper when. Please dont hurt me, I’m very sensitive 😊
Latinos = people from latin american countries.
Hispanic = people that are descended from spanish speaking countries. They can be black, white etc.
Trust me, it’s just as frustrating as when people say something bothers them but then don’t explain how it could be done/said in order to avoid creating that frustration.
Thanks to the commenters downthread who tried to explain the terminology.
I’m starting to really hate that phrase that “I know what’s in my heart” even if no one else does. People keep using it to defend offensive behavior, as if what’s in someone’s heart is secret an unknowable to everyone else around them, and like words and actions don’t tell us!
Everyone else has already done a better job than I could articulating why and how Gina was wrong in how she frames the lack of representation for WOC, intersectionality, etc.
Given her position and wealth, there really is no excuse for her not to have spoken with experts or activists who could teach her how to explain herself better. That’s assuming she really wants to do what she says, and uplift all people of color. All she has to do is celebrate every win for all individuals or groups of color, and memorize a few talking points about the power of representation, but the obstacles of white privilege.
Oh, and stop talking about herself!
“As if what’s in someone’s heart is secret an unknowable to everyone else around them, and like words and actions don’t tell us!”
Brilliant!
I can understand the outrage if she were a white woman. But from where I sit, the stats show Hispanic women as being more underserved/underpaid (in Hollywood) than black women. So is the fact that the black community is being dismissive of her mission to increase Latinx opportunity somewhat an issue?
I totally understand the reason for people’s anger. I guess I’m just surprised (a) because she seems like someone who sincerely tries to lift others up with her spotlight and (b) I haven’t seen the above aspect addressed anywhere. I’m probably way off, but curious.
There are Afro-Latinx members of the community also. It’s not quite as simple as splitting it into Black and Latinx, which is the whole crux of the issue. Afro-Latinx folks are criminally underrepresented in the media, not just in America, but all across Latin America as well. Tune into any Latin American channel and count the number of visibly black people that you can see. There aren’t that many. And of the Afro-Latinx women in Hollywood, the majority of them are either categorized as African or Latinx, but there is very little acknowledgement of their complete identity, and comments like this from Gina Rodriguez, a non-black Latina, do not help in this regard at all.
I’ve been following her shenanigans for a while now, and god, she’s f*cking exhausting if you ask me. She inserts herself into conversations where no one asked for her input. Her whole thing with Black Panther and “what it would be if it were about Latinx” was a straight up colonialist fantasy. And now she wants to say that she can’t possibly be anti-black because her father and her cousins have African ancestry? Yikes. Good to know that she’s drunk the pervasive and inexplicably anti-black koolaid passed around in Latinx communities about how “everyone is a little mixed” lmao. She’d find a good friend in Salma Hayek.
Some years ago I had a chance to meet some people from South America (Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Mexico, Columbia, El Salvador etc). What stood out for me where two things. First they connected with each other in a strange way even without having met before. They hated the Mexican guy because he refused to spend all the time with them and instead wanted to talk to other people from other parts of the world. Second they were kind of…racist towards darker skinned people. It was weird to me because they made a clear cut distinction betwen themselves and other darker skinned guys from Africa that were there even if some of them were as dark as them (some of them had black parents they showed me photos of families and friends). It was bizarre for me to say the least. I even asked questions at some point. Not writing here what they said but to give you an idea black people had “ruinned” their lives. They could detail me the white ancestry but for they black part they would just say “and then the black came”. I think that is what is happening here. I think she has that: selective racism and she can’t explain it even to herself let alone acknowledge and ask for forgivness.
El Salvador and Nicaragua are Central American countries and it’s ColOmbia, with an O.
Thanks. I learn something new every day.
So the spelling and geography were wrong but the colorism and internalised racism was correct?
@FF actually they called themselves Americans in general. As I am from another part of the world who am I to argue with them. I just told you a story here. Something I saw for months and for me, it was weird. They didn’t even want to sit and have coffe with the guys from Africa it was that bad.
As for my writing: yes I made a lot of mistakes as english sure is not my first language and for that I am sorry. But calling me racist because I am telling what I saw it is a bit reaching. Anyways….