MALDEF CONDEMNS "THE REAL" SEGMENT STEREOTYPING MEXICAN CULTURE

MALDEF

President and General Counsel, Thomas A. Saenz, Releases Statement

LOS ANGELES, CA - MALDEF condemns the decision by producers of Fox daily talk show "The Real" to dress their hosts in costumes stereotyping Mexican culture during a recent segment on cooking quesadillas on March 10, 2015. Hosts, Tamera Mowry-Housley; Jeannie Mai; and Loni Love were adorned in serapes, sombreros, and fake mustaches in an insensitive and enormously simplified stereotype of Mexican culture. MALDEF President and General Counsel, Thomas A. Saenz, sent a letter to Peter Rice, Chairman and CEO of the Fox Broadcasting Company, condemning the segment. The letter, in part, stated:

"The costuming in the segment was quite surprising in 2015. Even four decades ago, when such costuming might have been more expected, such a segment would have faced immediate condemnation and disavowal. The use of the costuming is positively shocking in the current era, in which Latinos are the nation's largest minority group, with the consumer power commensurate with that status. In 2015, no media outlet should have an interest in offending the Latino community and its many allies through the reinforcement of tired and offensive stereotypes."

To read the letter in its entirety, click here.

Founded in 1968, MALDEF is the nation's leading Latino legal civil rights organization. Often described as the "Latino Legal Voice for Civil Rights in America" MALDEF promotes social change through advocacy, communications, community education, and litigation in the areas of education, employment, immigrant rights, and political access. For more information on MALDEF, please visit: www.maldef.org.