It has been two years since a joyful Rita Moreno took the stage to accept her SAG Achievement Award, where a star-studded crowd celebrated her impactful contribution to film and television. Latinos around the country proudly witnessed with so much pride and admiration because it was a moment where Hollywood was rightfully acknowledging a Puerto Rican powerhouse, the first and only Latina to have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award. The historical importance of her career cannot be taken for granted because it opened the door of diversity and acceptance.
Fast forward to this weekend’s Emmys – how is it, with all that we have to offer as performers and as an audience (Latino families are the most avid moviegoers in the country) that we find ourselves with ZERO nominations in any top categories? We are not lacking multiculturalism from our screens, especially with the efforts of cultivating African-American talent. As The Undefeated poignantly calls it: we are about to enter the blackest fall in television history. In the top acting categories, there were 17 African-American actors with well-deserved nominations.
But what about Latinos? There is something to be said for the lack of material and if we want more Latinos on the screen, we need more Latino writers telling our stories. “You need to have Latino writers in the room,” said Felix Sanchez, chairman and co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, in an interview with Mic earlier this year. “For 20 years we’ve been working on this issue when most people would not open the door. Now there’s an understanding that there is an urgency here.”
In addition, is the The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS) and its 1,500 member voters unaware of the tour de force that is Gina Rodriguez? Because the Golden Globes are. No other show on television cares about womanhood more than Jane the Virgin. Or how about the intoxicating Wagner Moura who steals every inch of Netflix’s Narcos whenever he enters the screen. And finally, let’s not forget Oscar Isaac in HBO’s Show Me A Hero. The Guatemalan-born American created a character that is both so decent and conflicted in a story of such social injustice. These performances were all worthy of an Emmy nomination.
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