'SNL' Diversity: There Has Never Been a Latina Cast Member
"Saturday Night Live," who continues to receive admonishment for their lack of female cast members, is receiving a second round of tongue lashings after it has been realized that the show has never, not once, had a Latina as a regular cast member. And, it has only held one Latino as a regular cast member on the long-running show.
The National Hispanic Foundations of Arts stated that Horatio Sanz was the lone "publicly recognized" Latino on "Saturday Night Live." While there were others who were ethnically Latino, Sanz solely played and fulfilled the roles of Latino characters, while other ethnic Latinos on the show didn't because they were ethnically ambiguous. Sanz, the only Latino player during that 39 season stint, left the cast in 2006.
The NHFA sent a lengthy, well-worded letter to Lorne Michaels, the show's executive producer, stating concerns about the absence of Latino cast members, and making mention of other cast members who have Latin roots, but don't represent those roots on the sketch comedy show.
"Although Fred Armisen is Latino by virtue of his Venezuelan mother, he was never positioned on the show as a Latino player or character," the letter read. "Perpetuating this marginalization and isolation is segregation in the digital age."
Felix Sanchez of NHFA said that there were no recognizable images of Latino heritage or identifiably Latino cast members presently on the show. Sanchez also told Fox that the mention of African American women's absence presented an opportunity to acknowledge other underrepresented minorities and groups.
"SNL" will undoubtedly respond to the "Latina problem" the same way they did with the issue of African American women, with rabid sarcasm, a token guest star, and a joking promise that they'll probably get a Latina cast member soon...unless they fall in love with another white guy.
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