Nearly two months after the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) called upon the American Latino community and communities of conscious to boycott CBS This Morning and CBS Evening News broadcasts in the wake of Latino exclusion in anchor and correspondent roles in New York City, CBS News’ president and senior executive producer Susan Zirinsky announced in a press release that former longtime Univision newscaster Maria Elena Salinas has been hired as a contributor across CBS’ broadcasts and platforms, and to frequently take part in the 2020 election coverage. 
NHMC announced the viewer boycott on May 29, 2019 after Zirinsky overhauled CBS News in part to help boost the network’s ratings, which have lagged behind ABC and NBC. Back then, the racial/ethnic makeup of the new co-anchors and four correspondents were two African Americans, one Haitian/French, and the rest were Caucasian. 

Nearly two months after the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) called upon the American Latino community and communities of conscious to boycott CBS This Morning and CBS Evening News broadcasts in the wake of Latino exclusion in anchor and correspondent roles in New York City, CBS News’ president and senior executive producer Susan Zirinsky announced in a press release that former longtime Univision newscaster Maria Elena Salinas has been hired as a contributor across CBS’ broadcasts and platforms, and to frequently take part in the 2020 election coverage. 
NHMC announced the viewer boycott on May 29, 2019, after Zirinsky overhauled CBS News in part to help boost the network’s ratings, which have lagged behind ABC and NBC. Back then, the racial/ethnic makeup of the new co-anchors and four correspondents were two African Americans, one Haitian/French, and the rest were Caucasian. 

In a phone conversation with Zirinsky on May 23, 2019, Alex Nogales, president and CEO of the NHMC, said Zirinsky explained that she was not able to “find” a Latino to fill any one of those new spots, even though at the time CBS News had 6 Latino correspondents out of 78 on-camera journalists, which equals to 7.6% of their staff roster. After Zirinsky asked Nogales if the Latino community could assist her in locating a Latino to fill an on-air role, Nogales refused by saying “he has heard this excuse before” and that Zirinsky “deliberately overlooked” many “qualified Latino journalists” who could fill a top job in New York City as a correspondent or anchor. Nogales asserted that this exclusion was not a case of “unconscious bias.”

Meanwhile, other Latino civil rights organizations have also contacted the NHMC over their concerns about the overall exclusion of Latinos at CBS News. NHMC is in collaboration with these organizations to continue to put pressure and hold Zirinsky accountable for not fully embracing diversity and inclusion at the top tiers of the network in New York City. 

Alex Nogales, NHMC president, and CEO has issued the following statement: 

“Hiring Maria Elena Salinas, one of the most respected and trusted news sources in the U.S., is a hopeful start to increase on-camera representation at CBS, and we congratulate Maria Elena in her new and important role.
However, hiring one outstanding journalist in the field after the network’s overhaul in May is simply not enough. Zirinsky must hire a Latino correspondent or anchor on either CBS This Morning or CBS Evening News, which is taped out of their main studios in New York City – a highly desirable location every talent aspires to work at. We need to see our community, and other communities of color, represented at that level, on-air and behind the anchor desk in order to have real and adequate representation at the network. Until then, NHMC will continue to call for a viewer boycott of CBS news broadcasts.”

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According to The Hollywood Reporter, the “Con Queen of Hollywood” has previously impersonated other producers and studio executives. Over the past several years, her targets have included major studio heads like Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy and former Sony head Amy Pascal. After assuming these identities, the Con Queen contacts actors, photographers, stunt performers, military veterans, make-up artists and more for potential sexual or monetary exploitation.

Alonso stated that she’s “spent many, many sleepless nights,” since she became a victim of this Hollywood con artist’s elaborate scam.

The FBI has taken over the investigation and has created a website for victims of the “so-called” Con Queen of Hollywood, who is being described as a sophisticated swindler who for several years has been impersonating prominent producers, studio executives and other entertainment industry professionals as part of some elaborate financial scam.

The FBI’s San Diego office announced the unveiling of the new site as they “seek victims in Indonesia Showbiz Scam Investigations.” The statement stated that this is an on-going transnational fraud scheme targeting U.S. citizens began in approximately 2013. The FBI is releasing this information to prevent individuals, primarily those who work in the entertainment industry from becoming victims of the scam.

Alonso wasn’t the only Marvel Studios employee affected by the scam. Longtime casting director Sarah Finn, who was responsible for casting almost every Marvel Cinematic Universe film, was also impersonated by the Con Queen. The Con Queen sent out emails claiming to be Finn, then followed up with phone calls in which she impersonated Alonso.

In one such call, the Con Queen instructed actor Brandon Wengrzynek to “audition” with a sexually explicit role. When the process became “uncomfortable,” he stopped and contacted a friend, who confirmed the audition was fake. “She was absolutely convincing,” Wengrzynek recalled. “It just blows my mind how professional the whole thing is.”

The Con Queen uses these “auditions” and fake offers of work to convince victims to come to Indonesia. Despite promises of reimbursement, she has victims pay upfront costs for services like translation, driving and logistical help, then likely pockets the money herself.

Alonso first learned that she had been impersonated in mid-April, about 10 days before the April 26 debut of Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame. One of the movie’s stars told her that a stunt performer friend of his had received what he thought was a call from Alonso in which she purportedly said that Marvel planned to replace actor Jeremy Renner and was looking for another stunt performer. 

Alonso corrected her friend, thinking that would be the end of it. Instead, about a month later, she received a call from two lawyers who had been hired by Disney to investigate further. 

“Disney never said we think you did this,” says Alonso, “They just said, ‘We need to corroborate that you didn’t.’”

“I want my name to be loud and clear,” Alonso said in response to the incident. “This is not how we work. This is not who we are. We would never ask people to do that.”

Alonso says she wants as many people as possible to be aware that the scam is still ongoing, despite the involvement of law enforcement. 

“This person is preying on people’s dreams,” she says, “If something happens to you, report it. If it feels wrong, it is. Walk away.” 

Meanwhile, the FBI is advising that this is an ongoing fraud scheme and individuals who have plans to travel to Indonesia for a job opportunity in the entertainment industry should perform additional research and proceed with caution.  

So far, the Con Queen remains at large.

The post Marvel’s Victoria Alonso Scammed, FBI Seeks More Victims first appeared on .

“There’s still a long way to go,” stated Hilda Trujillo, Director of the Frida Kahlo Museum to the AP about verifying the voice in question.

What do you think? The iconic Mexican painter was a heavy smoker and drinker, and naturally one would think her voice would be raspier and with more of a hard edge to it.

Trujillo also said, “I personally think the art world has to be very strict in its judgment and can’t rush to assumptions.”

According to researchers at Mexico’s National Sound Library, investigations will involve sound library officials, engineers, audio experts and still living sources. There is optimism, and Trujillo admits, “there are still enough elements to do a rigorous analysis.”

The audio clip is said to come from a 1950s pilot episode of the Mexican radio program, The Bachelor, consisting of a woman describing Kahlo’s former husband. The first batch of digitized recordings of this show began in 2007.

Spanish to English translation, the woman’s voice says, “He’s a large child, massive, with a friendly face and sad look. His bulging, dark, intelligent and big eyes are difficulty detained.”

What do you think?

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