Commentary By Bel Hernandez

First and foremost, congratulations are in order for Oscar Isaacs on his Leading Actor Emmy nomination for his role as Jonathan in HBO’s Scenes From A Marriage; and Colman Domingo for Guest Actor in a Drama nomination for his role as Ali in Euphoria. Out of the 197 Latinos submitted for consideration for an Emmy nomination only these two great actors were nominated. That is less than 1%, or to be more specific 0.010%, of the talent submitted.

With a record number of Latinos submitted for an Emmy nomination, it looked like this was going to be the year we would see more inclusion of Latinos at the Emmys. The Acting Peer group of the Television Academy memberships are the group that decided that only two Latinos were worthy of a nomination.

To say that Latinos as sorely underrepresented again this year at the Emmys is an understatement. It happens every year and every year the trades carry the headlines on how Latinos are “missing” from the nominee list or the “lack of inclusion” at the Emmys. But nothing is done. And it’s not just at the Emmys where we are not represented, it’s all Hollywood industry awards, the Oscars, the Golden Globes…you name it. Latinos are always the ones missing on the contender lists.

In past years the excuse was that the roles just weren’t there. Not enough characters were written for Latinos, so how could we expect nominations? That was not the case this year. The work was there, you can CLICK ON THE LATIN HEAT EMMY CONTENDER LIST HERE and you will see the names of the talent submitted and the shows they worked on, in all genres and formats. The majority of the talent on this list is as talented as the persons who were nominted this morning.

Also, not one Latina actress was nominated. Not one. Out of 95 Latinas submitted not one was nominated. Not Selena Gomez for her role in the Hulu hit show Only Murders in the Building. The show was nominated in the best comedy category and since she is an executive producer on the show, she does get a nomination for that…but not for her on-camera work. However, her two co-stars were each nominated for their roles in same show, but not Gomez.

Not Rosario Dawson in DMZ, Dopesick, or The Book of Bobba Fett

Not Rosie Perez in The Flight Attendant

Not Monica Raymund in Hightown

Not Annie Gonzalez in Gentefied. In addition to the other 91 more on-camera Latinas who were not nominated.

What about the talent from shows like Hulu’s Love, Victor (3 actors submitted); 3pas’ Acapulco (with eight submission), Jeff Valdez’s The Garcias (with submissions), Netflix’s Mayans MC (Emilio Rivera, Edward James Olmos and 11 other actors submitted), ABC’s La Brea (Jon Seda, Nicholas Gonzalez & Liliy Santiago), or executive producer America Ferrera’s Gentefied (eight actors were submitted). The names on the list list goes on.

There were 106 Latino actors submitted, only two got the nomination. But, did the voting members even watch the great performances of Adan Cano in FOX’s The Cleaning Lady, JD Pardo in FX’s Mayans MC, Joe Minoso in NBC’s Chicago Fire, or Jon Huertas critically lauded for his role on NBC’s This is Us? Which of your favorite actors were not nominated, but should have been?

This happen year after year. The excuses are varied and some are even good ones, but excuses are no longer good enough. Latinos are the largest “minority” group in the U.S. and an economic force, with a $1.7 trillion annual consumer power. Hollywood knows about the Latino has exluded Latinos number one filmgoing audience for decades we continue to be ignored.

According to the October 13, 2021 Nielsen article “On-screen representation is driving Latino TV Viewing” the reason for the increase in Latino viewership is representation. “Programs that do attract notable Hispanic audiences are those that star Latinos, such as Selena, NCIS and Criminal Minds. This viewing behavior is in sync with the sentiment from nearly 60% of Latinos who say they’re more likely to watch programming featuring their identity group.”

So I am taking the advice of my good friend, Ana Valdez, Executive Director of the Latino Donor Collaborative when she says, “Expand the message. Demand Representation“. WATCH THE VIDEO HERE, and pass it on. It’s time to get loud. We have nothing to lose, yet recognition to gain.

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