Dascha Polanco Denies Shading Black Community Over Latinx Emmy Snubs

Source: John Lamparski / Getty

Dascha Polanco found herself doing some damage control Wednesday behind tweets that many have interpreted as shade towards the Black community. The comments were made in response to disappoint stemming from a lack of representation of Latinx actors amongst the 2020 Emmy nominees.

“Why can’t we Latinx have a piece of the pie? We are the largest ethnic group in America and missing as if we didn’t exist!” actor John Leguizamo tweeted.

https://twitter.com/JohnLeguizamo/status/1288307040146907136

In response to Leguizamo, Polanco appeared to take a jab at the Black community, seemingly insinuating that Black talent are not speaking up enough for their Laxtinx counterparts.

“If it’s only us speaking up on it, no one cares,” Polanco tweeted. “It’s the silence from those that fight for equality but only their equality. Diversity but Diverse enough to include thyself That mentality of ‘As long as I’m good; I don’t see a damn thing.’”

https://twitter.com/SheIsDash/status/1288345646861357056

Considering that Black talent received quite a few Emmy nods this season, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together. As a result, the backlash ensued. In response, she posted an Instagram video insisting that her words were being misinterpreted.

“Hey guys, I wanted to clarify the tweet regarding the Latinx snub in the Emmys. It was not shading our Black community. Blackness is in my DNA, as a Dominican and an Afro Latina,” Polanco said. “What I’m referring to is, we cannot sit here and say we are snubbed and write these articles and all these kinds of things when we ourselves are not doing our due diligence to create the work, to create the opportunities. We can’t claim diversity but when you’re good, then everything else is okay.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CDPpZqXH2CU/

What are your thoughts on her explanation?