Bully tells Gina Rodriguez her heritage is a “marketing tool.” Here’s her awesome response.
When Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez sees ignorance on Twitter, she does not take it lying down. In the past, she’s even publically corrected herself about the definition of feminism – that’s how dedicated she is to truth-telling. This week, she took on a whopper of a topic- interracial racism- when it came knocking on her social media door.
A Twitter user from Spain made a cruel comment about Gina’s Spanish-language skills, accusing her of using her Latina heritage as a “marketing tool.” His first Tweet reads as follows:
Gina fired back, letting Sergio know what’s really #lame: being discriminatory. The ability to speak perfect Spanish is in no way correlated with how much you love your culture.
The Twitter hater couldn’t drop his argument. He accused Gina of using her cultural identity as a “marketing tool,” as if her heritage is some kind of clothing brand or diet soda she can be paid to advertise.
Of course, Gina’s response was dead-on.
Gina’s right. Latina representation on TV and in movies is still abysmal. According to The Status of Women in the U.S. Media 2014, last year only 5% of female actors on Primetime Television were Latina. 78% were white, 15% were black, and a meager 3% were Asian. Sergio has it all wrong: Gina’s Spanish isn’t lame. Those numbers are lame.
After dishing out a lesson in shutting down interracial racism and the lack of women of color on television, Gina the Wise reminded her fans that there is absolutely no right or wrong way to be Latina.
Haters? What haters?
Related:
Gina Rodriguez just made us love her even more with this amazing take on body image
