Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez is getting dragged on social media for crying while addressing allegations of being anti-Black in an interview on Sway’s Universe.
“The backlash was devastating, to say the least,” she said on an episode of the YouTube show posted Tuesday. “The Black community was the only community I looked towards growing up. We didn’t have many Latino shows and the Black community made me feel like I was seen. So to get anti-Black is to say I’m anti-family.”
https://twitter.com/danielleisback_/status/1087882272907370499?s=21
Rodriguez is known for championing Latinx actors, but in her effort to lift up the Latinx community, she has been called out for being anti-Black on several occasions. The first time the actress was put under fire was in 2017 when she hosted a Latina Power Lunch with America Ferrera for women in Hollywood. People were disappointed to see there were few AfroLatinas in attendance.
https://twitter.com/lareinanegraa/status/1045434086226120706
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoO9X2fgMUg/?utm_source=ig_embed
More recently, Rodriguez was criticized for her comments in an interview with Net-a-Porter on the wage gap in Hollywood, when she said Black women are paid more than Latina women.
“I get so petrified in this space talking about equal pay especially when you look at the intersectional aspect of it, right? Where white women get paid more than Black women, Black women get paid more than Asian women, Asian women get paid more than Latina women, and it’s like a very scary space to step into,” she said.
She responded to the backlash in the Sway’s Universe interview, saying “when we talk about equal pay, we have to talk about intersectionality because we all must rise.”
Many people on social media dubbed her tears and excuses as disingenuous and fake, however. “The way how she wiped off that invisible tear and looked at it! I cackled!” one viewer said.
The way how she wiped off that invisible tear and looked at it! I cackled! pic.twitter.com/GAdH2YOkdg
— Black Beauty Lover (@BlackBeautyLuvr) January 23, 2019
https://twitter.com/CreoleGeeCee3/status/1087891055394021376
Others see her tears as a way to get out of an apology. “Keep in mind that Gina Rodriguez is on here squeezing out a tear trying to play a victim and allegedly apologize after she’s blocked Afro Latinxs on here for trying to correct her,” one Twitter user wrote. “She’s earned the disdain.”
https://t.co/BKkAojDpzO She’s crying in interviews instead of apologizing for her past anti black ways. She had a Latina event but only invited white latinas, every time black women/actresses get some shine, she has to “what about Latina women” it like black latinas don’t exist.
— KimmyJan (@Johnny__Wadd) January 23, 2019
https://twitter.com/esta_barbara/status/1087907386474536960
Maybe she should just apologize next time and drop the tears. Or, better yet, stop repeating her mistakes.
