Month: May 2010

Univision Offers Apology for Stereotyping Africans. Now I’m Just Waiting for Televisa’s

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You might have been resting in your laurels this Memorial weekend, but it was pretty busy at Univision headquarters, where top executives had to issue a public apology for a skit stereotyping Africans as -what else?- half-naked, dark-skinned people with big hair and small spears dancing around.

The skit, which aired on Univision’s popular morning show Despierta America, included hosts wearing Afro wigs and dancing to what civil rights activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson described as a “faux jungle music beat.”

The apology, which was published Saturday in Los Angeles Times, stated that: “[The skit] is completely unacceptable and against our policies, standards and practices. We sincerely apologize to our viewers and all who were offended.”

So far so good, so I’m just going to sit tight and wait for Televisa to issue its own apology for the ad below, currently running on Mexican television.

Zubi Gets Cold Feet About the ‘Gringo Mask’

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Remember the Gringo Mask?, Zubi Advertising’s provocative –yet hilarious- idea to protest against Arizona’s SB1070 immigration law?

Well, turns out it is no longer out there.

Apparently, yielding to criticisms by some gringos who didn’t like Zubi using the word gringo to describe gringos, the agency this week pulled it off the Web, replacing it with an explanation of what the mask intended –and didn’t intended to do.

Gone with the Gringo Mask was the dedicated Facebook fan page and previous URL’s linking to the Gringo Mask on Zubi’s own blog

I think Zubi doesn’t care what I think… but I think it shouldn’t have yielded to the pressure. The mask was not only funny; it was one of the very first attempts I’ve seen from a Hispanic ad shop trying to push the envelope and make a strong –yet witty- statement about one issue that touches the nerve of the very market they are supposed to serve (immigrants, specifically U.S. Hispanics).

Only the ignorant would take offense: the mask was a comical tool to show that we (non-gringos) know very well that “gringos” come in all shapes and colors. And no, I do not think the word “gringo” is a racial slur.

I don’t know you, but I was among the lucky ones who managed to download my gringo mask. You never know when you’re going to need it!

One More Reason to Root for Mexico in South Africa

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Ok, people, if you needed one more reason to root for El Tri at this year’s 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, consider this:

Diego Maradona has promised to run naked through the center of Buenos Aires if Argentina wins the World Cup.

So please, repeat after me: ¡Que gane México! ¡Que gane México!…

In which case, this blogger promises to start eating more sandwiches and spare you the embarrassment of seeing the results.

I Might Not Be Beautiful, But I Crashed People en Español’s Bellos Party

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You might have guessed this, but yesterday was not a good day for this blogger. It was the morning after People en Español’s Bellos Party, an annual ritual for me and 50 other beautiful Hispanics.

This year, the party took place at Guastavino’s and -unlike previous years- it was much, much smaller, and the room looked kind of empty at times. Also missing was some form of entertainment, which last year was delivered by the awesome Cucu Diamantes and her troop.

Still, some celebrities were lucky enough to get themselves photographed with this blogger, something that -I can assure you- will do plenty to boost their careers.

Some highlights:

Sofía Vergara trashed everyone’s high hopes simply by not showing up…

Lili Estefan “limped” the purple carpet…

Sammy Sosa still looks like he will not be detained in Arizona any time soon…

Univision’s news anchor María Elena Salinas reminded this blogger -again- that no matter how smart you are, you can still look very hot…

Saúl Lisazo reminded this blogger that, no matter how old you are, you can still be one hot papacito…

With the one and only: Sammy Sosa

Ricky Martin Opens Univision Upfront Doing What He Does Best… Tweeting

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OK, I’m supposed to write a longer, more serious post about yesterday’s party marathon, but I am going to take my time, as my head is not in a good shape -yet.

In the meantime, I thought you wanted to know Ricky Martin opened Univision’s upfront in Lincoln Center by -what else?- tweeting “Viva el Español,” which was Univision’s theme for this year presentation.

Is the U.S. Ready for ‘President Martínez?’ NBC Says Yes! [Well, Not Really]

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I looooove television! Because only on TV you get to see fantastic things that would never happen in real life.

Take NBC’s upcoming thriller The Event, which was presented this week as one of the “biggest television events of the upcoming fall season.”

The conspiracy thriller follows Sean Walker (Jason Ritter) who is investigating the disappearance of his fiancé, Leila thereby “exposing the biggest cover-up in U.S. History.” Mind you, all of this is happening while a black, Latino president occupies the White House: President Martínez. Yay!

…Except, of course, that in the world of television, President Martínez is portrayed by Blair Underwood, a non-Latino actor. Perhaps that is because in the near future -and thanks to Ms. Brewer y sus compinches– there will be not many dark, skinned Latino people left to portray Latinos on television.

Who knows? This blogger is already rejoicing with the possibility of having a primo en la Casa Blanca.

Microsoft Takes Telenovela Approach to Pitch Bing

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I was watching Jay Leno the other night, when I bumped into the following commercial -entirely in Spanish. For a second I thought I had sat down on my remote and the channel had switched back accidentally to Univision. But… nope.  This ad was running on NBC and is still airing on most English-language nets.

A friend tells me this spot is part of a bigger plan by Microsoft to tap into the so-called “Hispanic Millenials” (whatever that might be). I just love the fact that Los Links are Evil, and that la muchacha is stolen away in a white horse -all of this while another cute muchacha keeps dusting the furniture in the background.

Hat tip: The Green Beetle

Arpaio Goes to Univision… and He Is Armed!

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Univision this Friday hosted an unprecedented town hall on immigration, Inmigración: Un Debate Nacional featuring some of the country’s most prominent figures on immigration law and public policy, representatives of Hispanic organizations and -who else? Maricopa County Sheriff Mr. Joe Arpaio, who couldn’t resist showing up wearing a gun-shaped tie pin.

Unless he was at the Univision Studios auditioning for the upcoming Hermanos Almada movie, I would start thinking this guy is dangerous… Oh, wait, he IS dangerous!

¡Ay, nanita!

Club América to Arizona: “No Fut for You!”

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Full disclosure: I am a Pumas fan. But as the sensible person that I am not, I would like to personally thank Club América and Tuzos de Pachuca for their decision to cancel a soccer match that was scheduled for July 7 in Arizona. According to an official release sent out by Mexico City-based Club América and re-printed by the Phoenix Business Journal:

“Club America would like to inform you that due to the latest developments regarding the new immigration bill… our team will not participate in any friendly match during the preseason 2010 within the state of Arizona.”

Way to go, Águilas. Now… Go, Pumas!

Going to Arizona? Don’t Forget Your Gringo Mask!

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Miami-based Ad shop Zubi Advertising has come up with an infallible way to find your way around Arizona without being pulled over: The Gringo Mask, an easy to download, cut and wear mask that will make you look like anything except a “brown person.”

According to Zubi, “There have been over 155,000 hits to GringoMask.com in the past three days, the mask has over 1,700 fans on Facebook and is the number one result on Google when searching for Gringo.”

Which is, like, great, because as I have been saying for many years now, there’s nothing like the power of the Internet to annoy the hell out of stupid people, particularly Arizona politicians.

I have already downloaded mine and I must say I’m loving it, except I live in Harlem so I’m not sure it will be wise to be walking around wearing the thing around here… but that’s another story…