John Leguizamo has criticized Hollywood for its historical lack of diversity on screen.
The Latino comedian introduced himself as “a DEI hire in Hollywood,” explaining that the acronym stands for Diligence, Excellence, and Imagination (an acronym that traditionally stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and that everyone in the room was dedicated to those first three qualities. Incanto The actor then celebrated the diversity he saw in the audience tonight.
Leguizamo said that when he was growing up in Queens, New York, he “didn’t know that people like me could be actors.”
“When I was 15, I didn’t know the word ‘acting,’” he said before adding, “In fact, there were a lot of words I didn’t know at the time.”
But he said, “I’ve seen a lot of brown faces,” before pointing to white actors who have portrayed Latino characters, including Marlon Brando as a Mexican in Long live ZapataNatalie Wood as “Puerto Rican beauty Maria” in West Side Story.
“Everyone played against us — except us,” he explained. “I didn’t see many people on TV who looked like me.”
However, the comedian compared that — as well as other derogatory roles given to Latino actors over the years, such as characters like Speedy Gonzalez and Slowpoke Rodriguez and roles like “hot girl,” “Latina lover,” “maid” or “gang member.”
“That’s how we saw ourselves because that’s all we saw of ourselves,” he said.
“I was watching” Star Trek “And think, wow, in the future there won’t be any Latin people,” he joked.
He then pointed out how much progress Hollywood has made, pointing to the nominations of actresses Selena Gomez (Only murders in the building), Sofia Vergara (Griselda), Nava Mao (baby reindeer) and the show supervisor is Isa Lopez (True Detective: Night Country), in addition to Lisa Colon Zayas winning The bear.
Leguizamo explained in detail how I took out a full page ad. In the New York Times in June, the industry covered this issue, and how it started an important conversation.
“Last night made me almost happy and certainly less angry, because tonight is among the most diverse list of nominees in Emmy history,” he said.
“We need more stories from marginalized groups,” he added, but noted that “this show tonight is proof that our industry is making progress.”
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