Source: Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty
Eva Longoria is doing a hefty amount of damage control this morning after essentially pushing aside the efforts of Black women voters, resulting in President-Elect Joe Biden’s win. The actress seemingly threw Black women under the figurative bus while praising the Latina women as the “real heroines” in an unfortunate missive that has Twitter reacting to the words as expected.
While appearing on MSNBC with host Ari Melber to discuss the results of the Election Day tallies, Longoria, 45, opened up her praise of women of color showing up at the polls in droves, most especially Black women. But things took an odd turn when Longoria snatched away the moment to praise women of her ilk.
“I mean you saw what Black women did in Georgia but Latinas are the real heroines of all of this,” Longoria said, with Melber seemingly agreeing.
As a result, Longoria’s words, which will live on, are being dissected and have created yet another crucial debate regarding the term people of color or women of color, and the frequent exclusion of Black voices in those spaces. It isn’t known if Longoria thought that far ahead or even meant to belittle Black women, but her passion in speaking up for Latina women such as herself was especially telling.
Longoria has since issued an apology that has been, so far, unilaterally rejected by many across Twitter.
From Eva Longoria’s Facebook:
I’m so sorry and sad to hear that my comments on MSNBC could be perceived as taking credit from Black women. When I said that Latinas were heroines in this election, I simply meant that they turned out in greater numbers and voted more progressively than LATINO MEN. My wording was not clear and I deeply regret that, There is such a history in our community of anti-Blackness in our community and I would never want to contribute to that, so let me be very clear:
Black women have long been the backbone of the Democratic Party, something we have seen played out in this election as well as previous ones. Finally, Black women don’t have to do it alone any longer. Latinas (many who identify as Afro-Latina), indigenous women, AAPI women and other women of color are standing with them so we can grow our collective voice and power.
While this PR-prepped statement might stave off some criticism, Longoria is largely getting the business on Twitter and across social media. Actress Kerry Washington also attempted to shield her friend from the critiques online and claimed they were in the “trenches” alongside each other which led to Washington catching some jabs too.
We have the tweets below that illustrate the finer points and issues with the above discussion.
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Photo: Getty
