Rita Moreno says she's "incredibly disappointed" in herself over In The Heights comments
Moreno commented on the colorism controversy surrounding the film on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night
Film News Rita Moreno
EGOT-winner Rita Moreno has issued a statement on social media tonight, saying that she’s “incredibly disappointed” in herself after comments she made on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert last night regarding the In The Heights colorism controversy. During the interview, Moreno brought up (apparently unprompted) criticism that’s been levied against the film for its lack of Afro-Latino representation, including specific critiques of her friend and sometimes collaborator Lin-Manuel Miranda. Praising Miranda for bringing “Latinoness and Puerto Rican-ness to America,” Moreno stated that, “You can never do right, it seems…I’m simply saying, can’t you just wait a while and leave it alone? There’s a lot of people who are Puertorriqueños, who are also from Guatemala, who are dark and who are also fair. We are all colors in Puerto Rico. And this is how it is, and it would be so nice if they hadn’t come up with that and just left it alone, just for now.”
Moreno has now said that she finds these comments—which were criticized online, and which stood in contrast to Miranda himself, who has apologized for the film’s handling of race and skin color—“clearly dismissive of black lives that matter in our Latin community.” While noting that she intended her statements on Colbert as a defense of Miranda (who, among other things, recently co-produced a new documentary about her), Moreno stated that, “It is so easy to forget how celebration for some is lament for others.”
Questions about In The Heights’ casting and representation have been brewing since the film’s first trailer released online last year, but came into focus over the last week after our colleagues at The Root asked its stars and director about the topic. Director Jon M. Chu called questions about the film’s focus on actors with lighter skin “a fair conversation to have,” while also stating that “We’re not going to get everything right in a movie. We tried our best on all fronts of it.” Miranda issued a fuller apology, stating, among other things, that “I’m truly sorry. I’m learning from the feedback, I thank you for raising it, and I’m listening.”
In issuing her own apology, Moreno called out Miranda’s for praise, stating that, “In addition to applauding Lin for his wonderful movie version of In The Heights, let me add my appreciation for his sensitivity and resolve to be more inclusive of the Afro-Latino community going forward.” She ended on a joke, noting that, “See, you CAN teach this old dog new tricks.”
241 Comments
/Spike Lee angrily Tweets Rita Rudner’s home address, pauses, angrily Tweets Jet Lee’s home address
You know for once in these comment sections could we not have some white assholes talking over PoC when it comes to colorism among their community and shouting “Teh Left is Canibalizing Itself!!!!?!!!” when the topic of colorism is even brought up? It’s not a new discussion, it’s just a discussion that’s becoming more mainstream as more PoC’s voices get amplified
I mean I’m a white guy and I have no dog in this race, it’s not my place to be the arbiter on how these communities chose to discuss these topics that effect them. The only thing I should do is listen. Better to listen than yap off on experiences I will never fully understand.
Thanx for doing the bare minimum, Laserface. I don’t mean that sarcastically, thank you for speaking up.
You think you’re such a brave, good person lol.
As a, light skinned Latinx, I will say there are times it sucks being that because like lots of minorities it comes at you from both sides.To white people, we are PoC, regardless of how light skinned we are. To darker PoC, we grow up in the same neighborhoods, face a lot of the same bullshit, but we aren’t fully considered part of the community.Because the backlash to “In the Heights” is both a yeah there should be more representation of darker PoC and rejection of colorism but there also is that nefarious hunting of, “you’re not Latin enough because you’re not darker”. And this is a little ranty but I grew up in a situation where even in my family I was lighter than one side of family but darker than the other side and they both treated me like crap for it.
The following is from a white dude who is marrying into it, but…There is definitely the case where it fucks with the identity of someone who is more racially ambiguous, because there is very little certainty whether you are, or you aren’t, in one community or the other. I know that my partner has found it difficult because beyond knowing she’s definitely PoC she also doesn’t quite fit in a lot of easily defined boxes so she’s not entirely accepted in a lot of communities.Of course, I’m a white dude, I’m basically the default character in a video game, I only know this experience second hand.
Yep. Dated a gal, years back, who was indigenous South American. Her focus on and occasional fetishization of whiteness was incredibly hard to navigate. Like…multiple conversations in which she’d grill me on why I wasn’t trying to get my ex wife back, because we’d be the “perfect little white family.” Fucking ODD.
They’ve got you hating yourself and doubting yourself. Must feel good to be part of identity politics.
This was an instance of me inadvisably jumping into a conversation where I had no place as a white person as laserface suggests so I probably deserved it, but I mentioned on a Root article about colorism that this was the reality for a lot of light-skinned and mixed race black people and I got dragged to hell for it. I don’t deny for a second that colorism is real and darker skinned POC get treated worse and are given less opportunities, but responding to that by othering light-skinned POC is not okay.
To us whities I think whatever shitty biases we have are probably less intrusive depending on how light the POC is (even if we are working on those biases they still exist). But I don’t think the pain that racism causes can really be measured. It sounds hard to navigate and at the end of the day it still is white peoples fault that colorism exists, and Lin is just reflecting the shit we’ve created. It’s important to listen as white people but it’s also important to challenge our own colorism and the colorism of our friends and family.
Yeah, those discussions? Hang back and watch, grab what you can from the fracas.
Yeah. That’s definitely the way to go. But sometimes I get frustrated seeing only one side of the story being told and jump in anyway against my better judgment. In my defense, I do think it’s better for a white person to be standing up for another set of POC rather than pulling a “What about me???” as if usually the case.
I look at it in the same way I look at my Irish cousins: you step in to break up that scrum, be ready to take a hit to the balls and a “YOU AIN’T EVEN FROM AROUND HEAH!”Whole lot of deep, DEEP hurt in that discussion. I think I had a similar misstep, awhile back, on the topic of a black performer (I forget who) marrying a white woman.I…definitely underestimated the extent to which the concept of “graduating” or “marrying up” along lines of race is a HOT bone of contention in POC spaces.
Nah
No one asked you or cares what you think about anything. You don’t matter.
Make sure you dismiss this quickly so you can exercise the one small bit of power you’ve been afforded in your pathetic life.
Make sure you dismiss this quickly so you can exercise the one small bit of power you’ve been afforded in your pathetic life. Keep on dumping that there purse onto the table, sport! 😀 Seriously, you know that therapy is actually pretty cheap these days, right? You can pay someone peanuts to just sit there and absorb the weird shit you refuse to work through, and with a veneer of respectability! ;-*
It seems pretty slippery, when even the criticism of colorism can veer into colorism. I think that’s why there’s so much angry noise around this particular issue. It even messed up Rita Moreno. These “conversations” would be so much more productive if they actually were conversations, where people agree or disagree respectfully.
And that’s the thing, it’s Rita Moreno.Whos whole career was had to deal with racism of being seen as “too Latin, too Puerto Rican”, and now is being told that Latinx that look like her don’t count by people on this very site for being “white passing”.If someone calls a Latinx “white-passing”, they’re saying you don’t count.
I read your original comment and thought it was a great, lived-in experience response. This one, not so much. Absolutely no one is saying she doesn’t count. Also, white-passing is an important term that doesn’t mean the person is trying to be white or not acting whatever non-white race they are or that they’re not enough of whatever race they are, it means they get read as white by white people which gives them a sort of temporary, misplaced privilege. Passing privilege is a well-known phenomenon that affects most oppressed groups. There are black people who had white passing privilege and used it to get or stay “free” during slavery, there are bisexuals who are in heterosexual relationships who have straight passing privilege which puts them at less harm than someone in a same sex couple. If someone calls a latine white-passing, all they’re ever saying is this person looks white to white people and can benefit from it in a way an afro-latine cannot. And in the US, that matters. I’m sorry your experiences were such that you never felt like you had a “place” so to speak, but you can’t then also discount the measurable differences afro communities face compared to lighter skinned or passing people because of skin tone, not just race or ethnicity.
I’ve always had trouble with the phrase “white-passing.” My brother is definitely lighter than the rest of my family and we tease him about it a lot. BUT you put him in a room with a bunch of white people, and there’s no way he passes.
My issue with white-passing is similar but more general.Racists don’t give a fuck if you’re “white-passing”. Once they know what you are, you’re that.Regardless of how light or dark you are. So all “white-passing” really does is drive a wedge between people of simialr background and cultures with simialr life experiences using a metric that a person has no control over.
So all “white-passing” really does is drive a wedge between people of simialr background and cultures with simialr life experiences using a metric that a person has no control over. I get the idea.That said, I will not and cannot deliver that message in any way that’ll make a dent, let alone won’t just detonate the conversation entirely.There are reasons why the topic is fucking HARD, man. Millennia of white or fair features being given preference, likely extending from the days in which we decided that “lightness” must be better than “darkness,” because darkness is when the big sabre cats come out and eat you, and they MUST be demons. Fuck, think of Rwanda. Just an entire, whole-ass stratification system imposed upon the region by the Belgians (and others) that led to a fucking genocide.It’s just a fucked up soup of imperialism, social stratification, economic imbalance…So, yeah, gonna take a while to work out. And my blanco ass strolling in with a “Hey, let’s all just get along!” kinda entreaty ain’t gonna get the job done.
You’re right about the history, I can’t argue against that.But at some point, some cultural leader has to say “hey, the thing that makes us better than the racists is that we are this. We are one people that can look like anything from Anthony Ramos to Roberto Clemente.” And say fuck that to that noise and be more congratulatory and take the ball and run with that.
Oh, I feel ya.I just remember having wandered into a thread back then with just such a take, and got my ears slapped back HARD. Like, past indignant pride and well into “I didn’t know SHIT” territory. 😀
no-one is saying that lighter skinned latine don’t count. people are saying that to have a story centered around caribbean immigrant communities (yes, they’re caribbean, don’t forget that) and not recognize that darker-skinned people exist is an egregious misstep.i didn’t expect much from this movie anyhow because i knew it was going to be all cafe con leche hues, but i’m glad people are speaking up about it.
This is where I’m at on the topic; I would say I’m an ally, to anyone (except my goddamn Trump uncle). I can see the point of including darker skinned persons in an already celebrated cast of diversity. But what about the people starring in and who worked on In The Heights??If anyone is coming out (I have seen it in comment sections in the last week) and making a no-sides statement of how great it was to see such a diverse cast, like they can’t even be allowed that moment. So I totally agree with Moreno’s original statement. Why couldn’t ‘the community’ have kind of self-embargoed certain criticisms that don’t have to do with the talent of the persons or the quality of the film, and just allow, like, a month or so of praise and ‘exhaling’ for people for whom this film is and was always going to be a surprising breath of fresh air? Why does even a ‘win’ need to immediately be turned into a ‘learning experience’ and we are shitting over all the people who are in and worked on this, they don’t get to say, “It felt so great working on this project and I’m so proud of my co-workers and castmates!” Because then people are immediately wagging a finger and saying, “Ah, but—” and that moment in the sun for lots of people is ruined. Nobody can watch it now without thinking about this, and maybe without thinking that now it’s flawed.Because that’s what this ‘well-meaning criticism’ has done, it’s given people looking for an excuse or reason to shit on it, or not to like it, or criticize it, the perfect ammunition and they don’t even need to ponder, dig, or make up b/s to do so — it got handed to them by some sour grapes people who have a point, but they’ve hijacked that point. Every diverse production doesn’t HAVE to be THE most diverse or the paradigm example doing everything right; stuff is created and put together by people, people with vision can only have so much vision at a given time. So darker skinned examples of people were over-looked or got left out; THEY STILL MADE A HUGE EFFORT TO CAST EVERYONE PROPERLY AND SENSITIVELY!! But now this narrative is out, and anyone can just say, “Nope.”I just feel for the cast and crew in general, because they didn’t get to appreciate the appreciation for more than like 10 minutes, media-socially.
I think this endless psychodrama is counterproductive and exhausting. Take this site alone — in just the last few days, AV Club authors have chosen to write lengthy stories about (1) how awesome it was that Seth Rogan apologized; (2) how Ellie Kemper needed to apologize; (3) Lin Manuel Miranda apologizing; (4) Rita Moreno apologizing after initially not apologizing. In each case, it was clear the author believed the only acceptable response was that the person acknowledge their supposed sins.There is more to art than trying to determine if a work or an artist perfectly reflects your own beliefs, probing for signs of departures from those beliefs, and then pounding them into submission.
On one hand, I too wish people didn’t unhelpfully argue points that aren’t the priority of the conversation.
On the other hand, bring on the assholes because they’re on the losing side of history and will be told as such each and every time they prove it.
You’re on the losing side of identity poitics, fuckface.
But here’s the thing; you’re also on the wrong side of history. At the rate we’re going with social media, every 5-10 years the cutting edge of liberal mores are going to shift. Past your twenties, average people start to give up on adjusting their lingo for the moment. All the criticism is valid. But if we want our tent to remain larger than the resentful, conservative Right, we’re going to have to get used to a middle ground with older generations. Like hey, I get where you’re coming from but you’re missing this point. And yes, that’s what a lot of people are saying. But I’m referring to those who act like a 90-year old not being with-it is a national tragedy and makes her a disgrace. At best, it’s an understandable moment of human failing that most people have addressed in a caring manner (which probably includes yourself).
Recent history has made that a dubious prospect
This issue basically boils down to another minority group being under-represented.
I’d argue recent history has shown that speaking up can change that.
Doing nothing certainly doesn’t.
Speaking up can change things. Giving assholes a platform to spew their hatred and hoping people magically take the right message from it is an approach that’s had a mixed amount of success at best.
I can’t control the platform or other people. What I can do is contribute better information (hopefully) not based on hate. The amount of representation in arts and media is improving because history shows that you can’t silence people who want to be heard. Anyone disagreeing with that or getting in the way of that is therefore on the wrong side of history.
If you could just learn that you are actually the spewing asshole…
I somehow turned into that white male asshole over the last month, and reading this kinda set me straight. I’m stuck in upstate NY, for work, and have been here with my new best friend the entire time since 2019. He’s black. I don’t know if it’s a show, or genuine courtesy, but whenever I stop in any of the local shops without him, they all ask how he’s doing. Granted, I’m not anywhere near as personable as he is, and there is maybe 4000 people in town, so we all know each other, but…it’s kinda weird but nice at the same time. I like the times when I’m out with him and his GF and the dog (best dog in the world) and cars will slow down and then speed up. What’s so crazy about a black guy holding hands with a white girl walking her dog, and a white guy walking behind them? And the funny thing is, it’s always out of state plates on those cars. It’s NY. We don’t care.
Moreno was a PoC taking a dissenting view from you. How’d that work out? Doesn’t seem like that made people more willing to listen to her.
At the very least, sometimes it’s okay to admit you don’t have an opinion on something because you’re not familiar with the history of the subject and the various arguments. How many people who are denouncing this as the left run amok have been involved in colorism arguments going back decades? How many are only slightly familiar? For how many is this the first they’re hearing about it? It’s okay not to know about something. But if you haven’t been involved in these discussions in the past (I haven’t), then maybe you opinion online isn’t all that helpful.
It’s certainly important to be informed. But I think you should also recognize the way your standard here — that someone should only participate in conversation if they “have been involved in colorism arguments going back decades” — stacks the deck in favor of the position you seem to prefer. If you’ve spent decades involved in an issue, you’re obviously more likely to be the type of person who thinks the issue is really important. Such a person is probably predisposed to think colorism in In the Heights is a big deal.Imagine, for example, a different issue — whether religious groups should get exemptions from LGBT anti-discrimination laws. A conservative religious person could make basically the same argument you make here, that unless you’ve spent decades involved in conversations about the importance of religious freedom, you have no business expressing an opinion. But I think in that context you’d recognize the problem — the kind of person who has spent decades on these issues is also the kind of person who is likely predisposed to think that granting broad religious exceptions is really important. And so the request for lots of past experience in effect amounts to a request to only hear from speakers who tend to have a certain view.
THE LEFT IS CANIBALIZING ITSELF AND IT’S FUCKING HI-LARIOUS!
I mean, if it helps, they ain’t shit.
Hilarious that this post is made by a white guy and is the top post here. White people patting themselves on the back and never shutting the fuck up while literally saying “The only thing I should do is listen.”
Yeah, felt a little like ringing the dinner bell.The shitposters don’t need signaling. They’ll amble in regardless.
Maybe it’s becoming more mainstream for you, but as a black dude this whole discussion reminds me of conversations I had with unnecessarily angry “woke” PoC since forever. Like the guy who insists on ruining Thanksgiving dinner to argue about the Tuskegee experiments or something. Or the girl who would start hours long rants about beauty standards cause someone said a white actress looked good or something.There is a certain point where you just, really, need to let some shit slide. And the people who refuse to do so aren’t making things better, they’re just kinda insufferable.The thing about this “controversy” specifically is that it’s not as if movies with black people in them don’t exist. Or as if Afro-Latino characters are some new frontier for moviemaking. Maybe there should be more of them, and that’s a valid conversation to be had about the industry and our society as a whole. But this is just one movie. It shouldn’t, and *can’t* shoulder the burden of perfect representation for all. It’s fine if people don’t like the movie because it feels inauthentic to what they wanted to see. That happens with lots of movies, for lots of reasons. It’s less fine, imo, to portray that inauthenticity as a social or moral failing.Maybe I’m not explaining myself well. But when stuff like this happens, where a generally ok and well-meaning piece of art gets nitpicked over by the holier-than-thou crowd, i just kinda agree with Morena and wish people could just not be so critical, at least for a little while.
Laserface is incapable of understanding logic like this. What you’ve written here is correct.
This movie did feel like it had relatively a lot of Afro-Latino extras too, even if ultimately the two more outwardly Black major players both had their screentime or plots cut back from the stage version.I thought Jon Chu did a great job really adding visual pizzazz to each of the numbers but I did notice kind of like with his last adaptation, choices were made to excise content that impacted some of the diversity within the cast. When Crazy Rich Asians excised one of the rich Indian-Singaporean friends, that meant the only two prominent Indian/darker-skinned characters were mostly silent guards who were scary in part because of their foreignness.Granted for whatever reason it doesn’t feel like we tend to hold mainstream(/primarily white) media nearly as accountable vs. these still pointedly trying films portraying an underrepresented cast still geared for wide distribution. While I was pleasantly surprised Chu snuck in a single speaking line for an Asian extra, it seems like the greater issue is there aren’t all that many other primarily English language movies featuring Latino leads directed towards general audiences. (…Off the top of my head, aside from West Side Story which also happens to be a musical.)
Hey you might want to hit the dismiss button on Noonecaresdue2. He’s a troll running around spamming anyone who says anything remotely left wing calling them “mentally ill”. And is just butthurt that his burners keep getting banned.
You are one of my favorite posters.I’m a brown person whose family is from Trinidad. And we have that problem in our culture too where people say “oh they are too dark”. I’m glad it’s being brought up and glad people are realizing shit isn’t clear with POC, we have our own internal fighting about color as well.
Shut up.
Just gonna chime in before this article has 204 angry comments in the morning and say if you think she’s wrong for apologizing you’re dumb as hell and your voice doesn’t matter.
clearly dismissive of black lives that matter in our Latin communityI feel like the statement would be more convincing if they sounded like she actually talked, and without phrases that sound like they were dictated to her by a PR rep holding a gun to her head.
She felt like her friend was being attacked and got super defensive (or, more charitably, protective). These criticisms of In the Heights are not new; they existed when it was still on stage, and yet the film adaptation still represents a Washington Heights where everybody passes the paper bag test. Hopefully the statement from LMM about listening isn’t lip service. I’ve seen a lot of “Things is why we can’t have nice things!” handwringing, and it’s just… I don’t know, this is a specific neighbourhood with a specific make up, and it seems obvious that people would be upset that this love letter to Washington Heights doesn’t reflect Washington Heights. I’m reminded of watching Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and liking it, but being keenly aware that it takes place in the absolute whitest possible version of Toronto, which I did not recognize from my lived experience.
Was Scott Pilgrim really that white? Nevermind the fact that it’s largely about an indi emo rock scene that’s is usually pretty white anyway, but Knives (and all of Knive’s friends/classmates who admittedly you don’t see much but they’re all asian), Matthew Patel, and the Katayanagi Twins all played pretty big parts
Toronto is a city with a population that is 50% foreign born and 50% visible minority. Scott Pilgrim is pretty white; I wasn’t even talking about major roles: even more PoC background extras would’ve at least looked like the Toronto I know. I was also going to indie rock concerts at Lee’s Palace and grabbing a slice at the Pizza Pizza at Bathurst and Bloor (RIP Honest Ed’s). PoC like myself were in and around the white indie rock scene, even if it was just a bouncer at Lee’s Palace/The Dance Cave.and all of Knive’s friends/classmates who admittedly you don’t see much but they’re all asianYeah, I guess the exist and reinforce Scott’s “She’s Chinese” selling point when talking about Knives…the Katayanagi TwinsC’mon, they had, what, 2 minutes of screen time, in which I’m pretty sure they didn’t say one line between the two of them.
That’s mostly because the actors didn’t speak English. Though why you’d cast that way in the first place…
why you’d cast that way in the first place…Because that’s how the characters were like in the original comics, by the Asian-Canadian who created them.
Because that’s how the characters were like in the original comics, by the Asian-Canadian who created them.
And Bryan Lee O’Malley’s been pretty forthcoming about his own issues with thinking about race, which is how you end up with “inscrutable Asian dudes who don’t speak English, or at all” in the first place:
Pizza Pizza?! You should have stumbled down to Harbord and got Pizza Gigi!
Or go to Kensington and get some of that good Pizza Fresca.
Oh ho ho, look at Mr. Moneybags, who could afford to buy pizza without a Student Price Card discount!
Ha! I had refined taste, even as a prairie boy who moved to the big city!
Or any pizza place that isn’t Pizza Pizza!
Scott Pilgrim is literally written by a Korean-Canadian who formed a band in Totonto’s indie rock scene but go off i guess….
Scott Pilgrim is literally written by a Korean-Canadian who formed a band in Totonto’s indie rock scene but go off i guess….
That’s a big sticking point for me; the background extras. Non-real world example, I remember re-watching Lord of the Rings during quarantine and feeling kind of disturbed that there were no POC speaking roles, or even background extras.
And yes, I know the demographics of New Zealand; 3/4 white and 1/4 either Maori or Asian/Pacific Islander. But after seeing the diversity of other fantasy franchises like Game of Thrones, you see it’s far from impossible to achieve.
And if you’re about to comment right now that Tolkien didn’t intend POC characters in LOTR, that right there is exactly why I think discussions like this are important.
I mean, the Katayanagi Twins do fit in the long and storied tradition of late-stage video game/movie level bosses who don’t really say much. Is anyone going to besmirch Kareem in Game of Death for not saying anything? They were in a battle. Their weird electric dragon did all the talking that was needed.
Also wasn’t the first band the Sex Bbomb faced also asian school girls?
Anyway, I find all this way more interesting than anything having to do with In the Heights…
The three largest ethnic groups in Toronto are European (47.7 percent white), South Asian (12.6 percent) and Chinese (11 percent). In other words, the three main ethic groups, who together make up more than 70 percent of the population, are all represented.There is a significant black population in Toronto (albeit less than 10 percent) and I would image there are parts of the city where that population is even more numerous. But I’m not sure that the movie is any less representative of what some parts of Toronto actually look like than Ninja Robot Pirate’s “lived experience.”
And here comes the poster to prove the OP’s point. And for a completely different film than what’s in discussion for this article!Great job!
I mean, Bryan Lee O’Malley, the creator of Scott Pilgrim, agreed that it’s pretty white, so like ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Also: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/why-scott-pilgrim-creator-bryan-lee-o-malley-s-future-n608821and
The statement from LMM is lip service if what you say is true – that the Broadway musical had the same issue. He’s had a decade to figure it out, and he didn’t. If he was listening, we wouldn’t be talking about this now.
That’s what’s so amazing about this- Miranda had already received this criticism with the stage version! He is quite obviously not a stupid man, so the only thing I could chalk it up to is arrogance- he’s an award-winning artist, so don’t tell him what to do. I’ve actually met him and spoke to him a couple times here in New York, and he’s a very down-to-earth and personable guy. He really listened to me and we had a couple of nice conversations. But he may need to take a step back and check himself now. When the entire world is throwing roses at your feet, I’m sure it becomes quite easy to think you’re always right. He wouldn’t be the first big-time artist this has happened to, and he won’t be the last. I think he needs to take care that he doesn’t drift so far from his roots, via the praise and the money, that he can no longer hear the voices of other people. Those people aren’t “small.” No one is small. They just haven’t won a Pulitzer! Hopefully, he will have learned something this time. I honestly think he has, but it remains to be seen, doesn’t it?
It’s tough not to think of a lot of this as damage control. The movie simply wasn’t well received and did not do strong business. My opinion (which doesn’t matter) is that it was too niche. Regardless, it didn’t do well. A little social drama covers that up nicely.
“…is that it was too niche…” which can happen if people know the Heights neighborhood and it appears as though it was sifted to get the lighter grains.
The movie has 96% approval, with an 8.4/10 average rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It has an 84 on Metacritic. The movie was well-received.
Director Jon M. Chu called questions about the film’s focus on actors with lighter skin “a fair conversation to have,” while also stating that “We’re not going to get everything right in a movie. We tried our best on all fronts of it.”Much has been made of this already I’m sure, but obviously you didn’t try your best lol or there would have been more Afro-Latinx actors on screen and you wouldn’t have cut the storyline that’s literally about anti-Black prejudice within parts of the Latino community. I believe people’s intentions in making this film were generally good. They just had a blindspot. You listen, learn, and grow. It’s a little weird coming from LMM because he literally grew up in the Heights, and he should know that it has a huge Dominican population, but maybe he didn’t think too hard about colorism because it hasn’t affected him personally?regardless, I hope the movie is successful—I’m excited to see it, all things considered—and that it helps usher in more Latine representation of all types.
it always sucks when one movie has to carry the brunt of all representation. but a movie/play specifically about caribbean people in the US? no excuse.
True: ‘In the Heights’ and ‘Ghost in the Machine’ are guilty of colorism and white-washing respectively.
Also True: Dragging on a film (unseen) from teaser trailer to release date has an effect on film production companies not-unlike that which Reddit driven WallStreetBets has on brokerages that engage in large-scale short-selling of stocks: Money is lost.
We know who/what WallStreetBets is and what their goals are. We know the implied goals of film-dragging (inclusiveness in Hollywood). Should we not ask more of the WHO part of who is film-dragging… to make certain the Right is not weaponizing so-called ‘cancel culture’ against the Left?
Pretend for a moment that it was the Heritage foundation—or Project Veritas—that just attempted to get In the Heights canceled (sticking it to liberal elitist Hollywood!). It would be more of a punking than a cancellation and I fear certain elements within the American Left would be/are very easy marks for that kind of effort.
So LMM is somehow guilty of “white washing” the thing HE created?
No one is trying to cancel shit. They are just saying “do better next time”
Yeah, this controversy may result in bad PR, but it’s too legit not to address. It’s not right to counter-cancel by telling people just not to raise their concerns. If you did anything where you conspicuously left anything out, it isn’t grabbing a pitchfork to ask “why did you leave that out” and here it’s not like there have been boycotts like George Lincoln Rockwell picketing the movie Exodus. Obvi the problem is when the response is “don’t worry we’ll hit you back next time” you’re like “when…exactly? this movie isn’t getting a sequel.” Paired with the New Mutants issue around the casting of Sunspot I hope SOMEBODY is paying attention.
Also? Ain’t no one “cancelling” Rita fucking Moreno. Can’t be done.
Ain’t isn’t a word.
They’re complaining to hear the sounds of their own voices. Nothing will ever be enough for them.
who are these ‘theys’ and ‘thems’ of which you speak?
They are complaining because Washington Heights has lots of black Dominicans, who weren’t at all represented in a movie about fucking Domincans in Washington Heights. Fuck off, troll. You aren’t even entertaining, just fucking dumb.
You’re a mentally ill person. LMM doesn’t owe you a god damn thing.
I never said he did. That said, he seems to agree with the critics, and would likely think you are a pathetic little racist troll, so, you know, fuck off.
He’s not “agreeing” with you – he’s desperately trying to get you to shut the fuck up. Do you not understand how the social justice shakedown racket works?
Sure, bud.
This
I mean do you have evidence that the criticism is from stealth rightwingers? Because there are a lot of actual people of color posting under their own names discussing their issues with the movie.
It wasn’t the Heritage Foundation, it was people from that community speaking up about their experiences with colorism and bias. Felice León should not be told to sit down and shut up about the marginalization of darker skinned folk because of some imagined right wing conspiracy. She’s speaking up about discrimination of the actual, real, right wing white power structures. It’s those power structures that create the unconscious bias that results in colorism within POC groups. We can both applaud Miranda for what he’s done and discuss how to do better going forward.
This is so far past the point of parody. Who agrees with me that Laserface is a sanctimonious douchebag attempting to conflate the opinions of a handful of Twitter activists and the opinions of an entire race? I’m sick of the dumbest people here constantly high roading themselves into being the only people allowed to talk a kit anything. This site has become a fucking embarrassment.
Then leave.
Lol you’re a 60 year old woman. You’re going to die very very soon of old age. And this is how you spend your time. Lol. No one on earth cares what you think. Go sit alone in a McDonalds and wait for Father Time to do his thing.
Your hissy fits keep me alive. At this rate I’ll live forever.
Then you can giiiit out
Really hope you didn’t mean for this to be funny.
I agree, but you’re not exactly raising the bar.
Imagine having the audacity to defend a personal friend? Doesn’t this woman understand that there are perpetually offended shitheads on Twitter who are literally sobbing because they don’t have the ability to personally dictate casting decisions in a major movie? At long last don’t you people have an ounce of decency?
She admitted she was wrong, and dismissive. Lin Manuel also admitted he should have done better. No one is sobbing (besides you, I guess), they are just asking that Lin Manuel do better next time. Fucking relax, bucko.
You are an extremely unintelligent person. And I mean that genuinely. Go cry somewhere else.
You actually whine about people dismissing comments. ;-*
Look how jealous you are. Your poor poor parents…
Now you’re not making sense, lil’ homie. You lost the plot. Lace ‘em up, hit the track, do some laps, report back to Trolling 101.
No one is jealous of a piss-baby comment section troll. We are making fun of your dumb ass.
I genuinely believe that you *think* that.
We are making fun of your dumb ass. Which, incidentally, is exactly what these weird, afraid, deeply damaged…people…?…subsist on, like some online version of Biblical manna.Now a reasonable person might look at that scenario and say, “But Ugh., isn’t that kind of like trying to luxuriate in your own personal hell?” And they’d be right!It’s funny as fuck. A bunch of people so insecure in their ability and so convinced of their own worthlessness that they have to impotently try to spread their bullshit that they imagine is poison, but is really just a clump of shit they artlessly and unintelligently plopped into their hand.Dude decided he can do no better, so he’s living it. Sad, sure, but you can’t teach self-awareness. ::shrug::
Only one crying up and down this comment section is your whining ass, broski. I may not be smart, but at least I understand the conversation I am participating in. You are getting mad about shit that isn’t even fucking happening. No one cares, dude.
Seems like you care. Like a lot.
Dude, seriously, find a new hobby. This shit is sad.
He’s now graduated to low-key attempts at doxxing. That’ll work out well. 🙂
Eat more food. To be fair, if I was as ugly as you I’d probably have a ton of insecurities too. Maybe I’ll drop by at lunch to call you fat again if I have a few mins. Just remember that nothing you’ve ever thought or said matters to anyone. Make sure you dismiss this so no one learns your shameful secret.Bye bye
How many times a day does mommy have to change your diaper?
5 And I’m going to live more than 5 more years too. Pretty pumped about that. Thank god I’m not a lonely old hag.
Your hissy fits keep me alive so at this rate I’m going to live forever! Wooooo! Thanks, piss baby!
Nah. You’re a lonely old woman and you’re going to die soon
Keep going. Your impotent rage is like the potion given to Meryl Streep in Death Becomes Her.
Lol the infertile old hag who has no use to anyone on any level is talking about impotence.
I said your rage is impotent, not you. Sounds like you should see a doctor. BTW my crows feet are almost gone and my ass is already an inch higher.
No I just mean because no man would ever look at or be attracted to you. The shit you say doesn’t even correlate with what I’ve written. It’s like random computer script or something. “Sounds like you should see a doctor”. Based on what? I didn’t say anything about myself.
You don’t have to say anything, dearest darling. The ineffectual anger drips from every word you type. But also, you should see a shrink and maybe a urologist.
You’re 60 years old.
I’d say someday you’ll be 60 but I doubt someone as stupid as you will live that long.
Nah
*boop*
You really are a pathetic little troll, huh? Do you really have so little going on in your life that this seems like a good way to spend your time? Fuck, dude, go outside, talk to a girl, eat a chocolate bar. Anything is better than this shit. Sad little man.
Go cry somewhere else. Good advice. You should follow it.
If it helps, homie really isn’t terribly bright. Puts a lot of it into context.
Lol. As if anything you think matters. Hint: it doesn’t. You’re a grown man who dismisses comments because he cares so much about maintaining image here. You make me (and I’m sure a lot of other people including your poor parents) very sad.
You’re a grown man who romps through comment sections insulting people. You must be very, very sad.
I’m being kinjaed and I can’t see, reply to, or star posts that are pending approval, so I just wanted to say I saw your reply to my comment on Jalopnik about the catalytic converter and agree, thank god that catalytic converter is safe!
The bold new era of workarounds for the dogshit platform that is Kinja.
I need to take and/or teach a continuing ed course at the learning annex
What’s a guy got to do to get un-greyed around here? I got un-greyed on Jezebel, the site I least post on.
But I’m glad we can both agree that the important thing is always that the inanimate object is ok!
Be funny or interesting. So not a lot of hope for you unfortunately.
America is so much better now that Lin brought Latinoness and Puerto Rican-ness to America
the OG broadway cast had the same issue with casting, but that was 14 years ago and the discourse has changed.https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2021/06/10523113/in-the-heights-movie-cast-original-broadway-actorsgo compared the pics yourself
Americans have a perverse obsession with “race” and skin color.
Yes, racism, that problem which is magically localized only in America and never pops up anywhere else
So so soooo brave.
LOL look at you crying up and down this comment section. You need a better hobby, kid.
Lol you’re a 60 year old woman with no family or friends so you turn to comment sections to find humans willing to interact with you. Lol
Sorry, I changed the frequency on this shit after Ellie Kemper. Go cry wolf somewhere else.
Prioritizing the valor of a white woman in a post about people of color is a choice
If you got hit by a car tomorrow not a single person would show up at your funeral.
And if you got hit, people would cheer. There’s levels to this shit.
Nah, just got asked to go to the barricades one too many times. It’s boring now
I’m sorry people forced you to care about issues that don’t personally effect you and that other people’s oppression doesn’t hold your interest
Good news. All I have to do is wait 10 minutes for the next outrage to see if that one is more interesting.
I wonder who taught you that it was cool to be glib about other people’s pain
The Internet.
And yet you are also a person on the internet. Does that mean we get to dismiss you and any issues you have as well?
I am not of the Internet. I am above. DaBard abides.
Of course you quote some stupid white guy movie
You didn’t get potty-trained until you were like 7, right?
This is all you have left, huh?
This is a very ignorant viewpoint.
I’m sure that Felice León, the Afro-Latina who spoke up about this at The Root, will be devastated to find out that no one should care about the discrimination against darker skinned Latinx folk because someone was mean to a rich white lady that one time. I’m sure she’ll just give up and stop talking about her lived experience with discrimination. “Pack it up everyone. No gets to talk about racism and bias. Someone was mean to Elie Kemper! It was nice to push for equality while it lasted.”
You’re so soooo brave. And such a good person. Congratulations.
I’ll do you the courtesy of being serious. Unlike recognitions, you have not yet earned nothing but flippancy.
There is a currency here. Hard-earned currency, gained through generations of toil. Decades of fighting for rights. Years of education as to why stuff like this matters. This currency was earned by people smarter, braver and tougher than any 1,500 average commenters on a board.
And when it gets spent on bullshit like the Kemper episode, it is lost. And lost forever. When a story about representing Afro-Latinx properly in movies gets the same placement, headline font and length as a ridiculous piece on Kemper, it matters. If everything is an outrage, nothing gets to be an outrage.
So the entire world has to be exactly right about every single issue for you to care about racism. Got it.
Nope. Just not so fucking wrong.
So you’re confirming you’re going to remain indifferent to the suffering of people of color because a website posted an article you didn’t like. Good to know.
You are determined to have the last word. I respect your dedication to your pettiness, if nothing else. Fine, you may have the last word. My last word on this is “flibberdigibbit.”
I don’t know, I think petty pretty well describes the guy who loudly announces he doesn’t care about racism because he’s mad on behalf of some rich white actress. Seems like a lot of projection to me.
Just dismiss his comments. Recognitions is cancer in human form.
Sooo … they should use a bigger font size for this article? More paragraphs? You seem to be implying in this comment that they should spend way more energy on stuff like colorism than on Ellie Kemper’s HS experience, and if so I 100% agree. However your first comment seemed to imply that the site should not cover racism or colorism because of Ellie Kemper and that’s what I take issue with. You even said “cry wolf.” Felice León was not crying wolf, she was describing her experiences with colorism and how the movie reflects those biases, whether they intended it or not.
I do think that the Kemper episode robbed this site of whatever was left of its credibility. The AV Club should sit a few plays out and leave the coverage of serious issues like colorism to better publications.
Felice Leon isn’t the problem. The AV Club is.
But the whole point is that they need to have good coverage of racial issues. León raised valid points about colorism in a major motion picture at a sister site. The AV club covers pop culture, it’s part of their job to cover it. It’s not crying wolf. Ignoring racial issues doesn’t help the problem, it just makes them complicit in ignoring those who speak up.
And I’m saying the Kemper episode proved the writers and editors have no sense of perspective, no ability to thoughtfully discuss the issues and would post blow-by-blow accounts of a pig shitting on a duck if it got them five more clicks.There are other sites that can handle this. Whenever this site drives in that lane, I’ll give it a pass.
This.
This site covers pop culture, and pop culture has many, pervasive issues with racism and other forms of bigotry. To stop covering those issues is tantamount to saying those issues don’t matter, and they do matter, deeply. León raised a valid issue and it was perfectly within the AV Club’s purview to cover it and Moreno’s comments from a nationally televised popular talk show.
Absolutely. The AV Club has every right to make whatever topic it wishes its purview. First Amendment and all that.
But the First Amendment doesn’t do a fucking thing to protect your credibility. You have to earn that and then keep it once you have.
That ship sailed for these clowns.
But that’s not what your comment said. You said they were “crying wolf” when what they are doing is publishing a perfectly reasonable article on current news. You also said they shouldn’t be covering this, when racism in pop culture is an important topic to cover. You’re perfectly free to get that content elsewhere, if you like, but this is a perfectly valid article on a perfectly valid topic for them to cover.
No it’s not. You and the avclub are an embarrassment.
That Ellie Kemper article is the furthest thing from “perfectly reasonable”, are we serious right now? That was veiled hate speech at best.
Good, then they can all get REAL jobs that are actually constructive rather than professional complainers.
Could this be a test balloon so they can really rip Spielberg in a couple of months?
Anita (Moreno’s former character) is being played by Afro-Latina actress Ariana DeBose. Not saying that there won’t be other issues, but maybe this one has been considered.
Actually, I can see that being a problem, considering Anita’s character. She’s the person whose lie sets up the final tragedy. I can see hand-wringing about how they selected a darker skinned actress for that part.
I hope not. Progress is for diverse actors to be cast as complex, well-realized characters, and those have flaws.
yawn
This may be apropos of nothing, but Laserface1242 is a fucking idiot who never knows when to shut the fuck up. There, I’ve said my piece.
I think most of the people who read this site agree, but it’s not worth saying anything because of what a fucking dumb prick he is.
It’s funny that the top comment in this section is from a white guy saying it’s not his place to comment.
The same white guy who writes the same comment in every comment section and then attacks anyone who has the audacity to disagree with him. You’d have a hard time finding a bigger loser.
Still an upgrade from the last post about this, where many white people were actively shouting down people of color trying to talk about their lived experience.
I guess every little is a gain.
Shut the fuck up.
Sure, it’s easy to say that to recognitions. Now go write that to all the Latino people who think you’re an idiot in the other comment section.
Now go write that to all the Latino people who think you’re an idiot in the other comment section. Can’t. He’s too busy screaming his pathos into the online ether while pretending that that’s not exactly what he’s doing. 😀
Kind of like how you’re a complete failure who will never do a single thing of note in his entire pathetic life?
You’re actually trying really hard, and it’s adorable.Don’t you have a high-powered job or somesuch to get to? Or was that “job,” in fact, fucking an anime pillow on OnlyFans?
Nah. You’ve got a long day of being brave and important ahead of you. Congrats on all your successes. Every choice you’ve made in your life has led you to this moment. Remember when you said you were done responding to me and then kept responding for an hour and then got so mad that you deleted all my comments? I do.
So if 4 or 5 wanna be activists on the internet believe something they speak for their entire race? You’re missing something in your brain.
Man, I know we’ve had our constant disagreements, but I’m genuinely grateful to have you on the right side of this.
Soooooo brave. You’re such a brave good person. Congrats on forcing a 90 year old Latino woman to apologize for something. You’re doing really good work.
No one forced anyone to do anything. They criticized what she said, she realized the critics had a point, and she apologized. What’s got you so angry, bro? You seem to be blowing a gasket over someone who wasn’t cancelled, was never threatened with cancellations, and seems to agree with the mild criticism she received.
In short, fuck off, troll.
Lol. You think I care about an apology from Rita Moreno? I care about people understanding what whiteness is. Very typical of the change-averse to make big issues about small situations.
Lol you’re such a brave good person.Never stop using meaningless buzzwords. It really makes you come across intelligently.
Look at your username. It’s instructive to your posting here.
Thanks! Now maybe you wouldn’t mind apologizing for falsely accusing me of rape?
recognitions, I’m appalled. I would never accuse you of rape. I simply accused you of being an abuser.
Well thanks for proving that a) you think abuse is a joke, which I actually knew, and b) your “gratitude” was completely insincere, which I suspected all along
When are you going to apologize for falsely accusing recognitions of rape? The world wants to know!
He should apologize for basically his whole life.
I’m sure that’s true, but let’s check in on your stance on Louis CK first.
No thanks, it’s not relevant.
See, now you’ve gone and put your poorly formed trash talk right where some person of color could otherwise have told us all about their lived experience.Be better next time, ok?
shut up. please please just shut the fuck up
Shut up, everyone! Everyone who’s white, please shut up!There. Now let the important stuff begin!
Laserface, I’m going to have to remind you to shut up.
Laserface, I’m going to have to remind you to shut up.
Unintentional duplicate, but let’s not pretend he didn’t still need it.
Don’t you have right wing alt accounts calling people “mentally ill” to ungrey?
Oh no, you caught me knowing what “negging” is! Surely I have committed the ultimate hypocrisy!/sIt’s really sad that you think spamming that screenshot is some sort of “gotcha”.I’m still not going to fuck you.
In recognitions’ defense, I really went to town on the guy a couple months ago.
At some point their “lived experience” isn’t relevant or necessary.
Much better than being from a white guy who doesn’t know what the fuck he’s talking about.
In the last thread he must have posted about fifteen different times about how he was going to just shut up because it wasn’t his place to police the conversation but all the other white people needed to shut up first so he could finally shut up, so… at least it was just once this time.
You defended Louis CK
I’m not going to fuck you no matter how much negging you do….
Yeah, I’ll try not to neg.
I guess the discourse here isn’t so bad once you get into the swing of it. Shut up!
I am shocked, SHOCKED, that a 90-year-old woman said something that would be considered unacceptable.
Not even unacceptable, just a little tone deaf. Which is why the criticism was fairly mild, and her apology has largely been accepted. Not everyone is perfect, all most people ask for is that they show a little growth, and listen when the people most affected tell them how THEY feel.
My point was that by the time anyone gets to be 90 years old, they’ve pretty much made up their mind on how they view the world, and they feel that they’re free to say what they think and they’re right.I had a 90-year-old grandmother who died ~10 years ago, and even though she had an African-American great-grandchild, she still thought it was ok to say “colored” about black people. She wasn’t trying to be mean, it was just the way she was brought up.People *can* change and learn when they’re this old, but most times, they’re not going to. They are how they are.
FILED TO: Adorably Plaintive, Almost Childlike Whining I’m sick of the dumbest people here constantly high roading themselves into being the only people allowed to talk a kit anything. This site has become a fucking embarrassment.
Haha look at how desperate you are to respond. Make sure you don’t wet your little panties.
Oh btw I found a picture of you online. Mrdashman right? Fat fuck.
I bet you’ve only gotten fatter since then huh?
Fat ass
Eat more fatty
Backlash to the backlash to…This is getting recursive.
I just want to point out that Rita Moreno remembers when the makers of West Side Story made her darken her skin to play the lead in West Side Story. It may have affected her comments
The AV Club has a whole lotta neckbeards commenting here. And they are really getting a battery in their back.
Why are we booing her? She was right the first time.
My stance is this. Nobody should have apologized. As a woman of color, I have definitely experienced my fair share of racism. However, there have been times when I wasn’t hired for a job or wasn’t chosen for something and it had squat to do with my race. Sometimes you don’t get it because there is someone better qualified or a better fit than you. That’s life. When you’ve been a victim of racism and colorism in the past, it can be very easy to see everything through that lens. “The lead actresses were light-skinned! It’s got to be colorism!” Not necessarily. What Lin should have said was this: we had people of all races and ethnicities in that room and we auditioned everybody based on talent. We cast the best actors for the parts. That’s it. Is colorism a thing? Yes. Is that always the reason you see an actor with a lighter complexion, even in a production done by other actors of color? No. To say otherwise means that you make yourself a victim in every circumstance. Also, the ugly undertone to this is that lighter-skinned actors aren’t dark enough to truly be considered Hispanic or representation. It’s pretty sad.