First it was Lin-Manuel Miranda’s turn to face the woke cancel mob. Now it is Rita Moreno’s for defending him.
Academy Award-winner Rita Moreno has come under attack from a left-wing cancel mob after she defended Lin-Manuel Miranda against accusations that the movie In the Heights engaged in “colorism” by marginalizing Afro-Latinos.
The 89-year-old star is being accused of harboring prejudice against dark-skinned Latinos and having “white adjacency supremacy.” She is also facing accusations of hypocrisy, with people noting her skin was darkened for her Oscar-winning role in West Wide Story.
On Tuesday, Moreno appeared on CBS’ The Late Show With Stephen Colbert where she stood up for Miranda, saying the criticism of In the Heights “really upsets me.”
“You can never do right, it seems,” Moreno said. “This is the man who literally has brought Latino-ness and Puerto Rican-ness to America. I couldn’t do it. I mean, I would love to say I did, but I couldn’t. Lin-Manuel has done that, really single-handedly. And I’m thrilled to pieces and I’m proud that he produced my documentary. They’re really attacking the wrong person.”
She added: “I’m simply saying, can’t you just wait awhile and leave it alone?”
Watch below:
Her comments have provoked outrage from left-wing journalists and activists, some of whom have labelled her “white” and accused her of being part of the “white latinx media establishment.”
Film critic Robert Daniels, who has written for RogerEbert.com and the Los Angeles Times, said he was “totally disappointed” with Moreno.
Indiewire journalist Tambay Obenson implied that Moreno is a hypocrite due to her role in West Side Story, in which her skin was darkened.
Fangirlish editor-in-chief Lissete Lanuza Saenz said Moreno’s comments “show how deep” colorism runs in the Latino community.
CNN political analyst Natasha Alford said Moreno was helping to preserve the “status quo.”
Others were far more vicious in their attacks on Moreno, including people who accused her of upholding “white supremacy.”
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