Actor John Leguizamo said he will boycott Sunday’s Emmy Awards over the lack of Latino representation among this year’s nominees, saying that Latinos are the largest minority group in the United States and will “decide who is president this year.”
The anti-Trump actor, who isn’t nominated this year, said in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment that it isn’t worth it for him to watch the ceremony.
“I’m boycotting,” he told the news outlet. “If you don’t have Latin people, there’s no reason for me to see it. What’s the point?”
He added: “It’s unbelievable that our stories aren’t being told and there’s one reason for that. Executives don’t see us, don’t get us — don’t care about us.”
Leguizamo continued to attack the television industry. “It’s just not OK to ignore us, exclude us,” he said. “We’re the largest minority group in the country. We’re the biggest voting block. We’re going to decide who the president is this year.”
The 2010 Census counted 50.5 million Hispanics in the United States, comprising 16.3 percent of the total population. That exceeds the number of people who marked themselves as black alone, at 38.9 million people, or 13 percent.
This year’s Emmy nominations don’t feature any Latino stars among the acting nominations. Last year’s ceremony counted actors Benicio Del Toro and Leguizamo among its Latino nominees.
The Emmy Awards, which will be Hollywood’s first major awards ceremony since the coronavirus outbreak, are expected to be a mostly virtual broadcast with winners accepting their statuettes from their homes and other remote locations.
John Leguizamo is a past Emmy winner for the televised version of his stage play Freak, which aired on HBO. He was nominated last year for his supporting role in Netflix’s When They See Us, about the Central Park rape case.
The Hollywood star frequently lashes out at President Donald Trump on social media, recently claiming that Russia may be preparing to once again meddle in this year’s presidential election in favor of President Trump, providing a “secret majority.”
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com