Despite the popular notion that Hollywood celebrities careers’ are impenetrable simply because they’re super famous, we are starting to learn lately that’s not necessarily the case anymore.
Take, for instance, the Me Too movement. It has shown us first hand that even the most powerful Hollywood elitists’ careers can’t be destroyed at the blink of an eye without due process. And now all these powerful players with skeletons in their closet fear that it might catch up with them, which is a good thing.
But in some cases it might not necessarily need to be something as serious as allegations of sexual misconduct, it might just be one racist comment.
Quite possibly the most infamous example of a Hollywood A-lister whose career was destroyed by racist comments was none other than Braveheart star Mel Gibson.
Gibson was on top of the world after he made The Passion of the Christ, which was not only a victory for Christianity at the time but it was also the highest grossing rated R movie ever made. And Gibson made hundreds of millions of dollars off this movie at the very least.
Now it seems that actress Gina Rodriguez is in the same hot water because of comments that she made during a discussion panel in November 2018 regarding pay disparity amongst different races of women.
She said, “I get so petrified … talking about equal pay, especially when you look at the intersectional aspect of it,” she said at the time. “White women get paid more than black women, and 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.”
The reason why she experienced backlash was because African American and Asian actresses felt that comparison was unfair and racist.
And it really is if you look for the deeper meaning. Rodriguez is implying that there’s a socioeconomic hierarchy amongst females where Latinas are dead last. This must’ve come off the top of her head because she provided zero evidence to back up her case.
Recently, Rodriguez joined SiriusXM’s Sway in the Morning to discuss what she “meant” and the public outrage.
Hosts Sway Calloway and Tracy G drilled her on a series of questions, which were met with tears from the Golden Globe-winning actress.
She bemoaned, “So, I never said actresses. I wasn’t speaking about my industry. I was speaking about — I always find it difficult to talk about equal pay as a woman who makes a substantial amount of money. As somebody who came from poverty, to now the amount of money that I get paid, it doesn’t feel right that I’m the one talking about it because I’m just so damned grateful. to then be on a panel with women that I respect and admire and us talk about a subject that I find very difficult to talk about, I was, what I was saying, was that when we talk about equal pay we have to talk about intersectionality because we all must rise.”
The implication that she was referring to the acting community is a bit ridiculous because what else would she of been referring to? You would think if she was talking about another industry entirely then she would’ve made that clear but she didn’t.
After that she claims that the “backlash was devastating” and that’s when the hosts told her to take her time.
She concluded, “because, this is also my first, okay, I got this. Because 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, saying that I’m anti-family. My father is dark-skinned. He’s Afro-Latino, and my cousins are. Puerto Ricans are African and Spaniard, so it’s in my blood. So it was really devastating to me, and I know my heart. I know what I meant, and I really wish that we weren’t living in a culture where we’re clickbait, because I have never said anything controversial about anybody. Because if anything, the black community is my community. As Latinos, we have black Latinos. Like that is what we are.”
Although Rodriguez didn’t use any racial epithets, her accusations against other minority women carried levity of racism.
