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Latinx creators are getting called out on social media after complaints that the Emmy Awards lacked Latinx nominations. Many Black people on Twitter argued that such call-outs often come off as anti-Black and ignore the Afro Latinx community.
Many publications led the charge in slamming the 2020 Emmy Awards for lacking Latinx nominees in their Tuesday announcement. The Daily Beast acknowledge that Alexis Bledel was the only Latinx person nominated with a nod for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for “The Handmaid’s Tale”. She won this category in 2017.
Notable nominee snubs included Rita Moreno for the Pop TV comedy “One Day at a Time,” Mj Rodriguez for FX’s “Pose”, and the Starz show “Vida”.
Meanwhile, a record-breaking number of Black creatives were nominated for awards, including Issa Rae for “Insecure”, Sterling K. Brown for “This Is Us”, Kerry Washington for “Little Fires Everywhere” and Billy Porter for “Pose”. According to Variety, 34% of the acting nominees are Black with 102 acting nominees this year.
Despite Black talent being recognized, publications like The Daily Beast and the Los Angeles Times criticized the the Emmys for the lack of Latinx recognition. Soon Latinx actors followed up, including actor John Leguizamo. “Why can’t we Latinx have a piece of the pie,” he tweeted. “We are the largest ethnic group in America and missing as if we didn’t exist!”
“One Day at a Time” actress Isabella Gomez also expressed her outrage, tweeting, “It’s so hard to be eloquent and poised when I’m so angry and deeply saddened by the lack of Latinx nominees. And don’t you dare tell me there’s none to nominate cause I watch EGOT Rita Moreno and genius Justina Machado create magic daily and that’s just on my show. Ridiculous.”
Even the Hispanic Caucus slammed the Emmys on Twitter, describing the “erasure of Latinx actors” as a “demoralizing disappointment for the U.S.’s largest minority group, representing nearly 1-in-5 Americans.”
Despite outrage from these Latinx groups, many Black people on Twitter started calling out the comments as anti-Black. Folks argued that the Latinx community oftentimes excludes Afro Latino representation, citing networks like Telemundo for the lack of melanin in their programming.
When “Orange is the New Black” actress Dascha Polanco called out the “silence from those that fight for equality but only their equality” in a tweet, Twitter user @Hey_AshB responded:
“So you really just gonna if [sic] ignore the fact that Latinx communities routinely exclude and marginalize afro-Latinx people and dark skinned Latinx people????? THAT is what Latinx people need to address FIRST. Then send your complaints to THE WHITE PEOPLE in power.”
Polanco later went on Instagram Live saying her tweet was not meant to shade the Black community, saying that “Blackness is in my DNA as a Dominican, as an Afro Latina, as a whole.” She went on to say that she was calling out people who “claim diversity” but when they become successful they’re like “I’m good” and they don’t “create the work” or “create the opportunities” for others.
Still, many Black folks online didn’t have the patience for complaints about Latinx representation when so many Black people were nominated this year. “My dear LATINX community, I promise there’s a way to ask for better representation without being anti-black,” user @JuliExplores wrote.
Check out more criticism in the tweets below.
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