Eva Longoria Apologizes for Comment Implying Erasure of Black Women in Biden Victory

Actress Eva Longoria has apologized for and clarified controversial remarks she made during an MSNBC interview after many accused her of downplaying the pivotal role of Black women in President-elect Joe Biden’s election win.

U.S. Latinas are the “real heroines” of the 2020 election victory of Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris, Democratic activist Longoria said on cable television late Sunday, in a fragment of a sentence that seemed to play into the hot-button notion that Black women were being erased for their contributions to the Biden victory.

“Watching this back I can see that this sounds like I’m comparing Latinas to Black women, which I would never do,” Longoria wrote Sunday on Instagram. {snip}

“Black women have long been the backbone of the Democratic Party, something we have seen played out in this election as well as previous ones. Black women deserve a standing ovation for the work they have done year after year!! … Again, so sorry for the confusion and lack of context on my part.”

The “Dora and the Lost City of Gold” star made the statements Sunday while speaking to MSNBC host Ari Melber. {snip}

“The women of color showed up in big ways,” Longoria said. “Of course you saw in Georgia what Black women have done, but Latina women were the real heroines here, beating men in turnout in every state, and voting for Biden-Harris at an average rate of close to 3-to-1.”

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Longoria’s statement sounded to some as though it sidelined the enormous organizing push by figures like Stacey Abrams in the state of Georgia to get more Black voters to the polls. {snip}

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The response seemed to metastasize to the political world when the newly re-elected U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, from Minnesota, tweeted cryptically: “Stop erasing the work of Black women.” {snip}

In a statement, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists publicly rebuked the star on Twitter: “Eva Longoria should apologize for her divisive comment about ‘real heroines.’ We have to stand up for Black women, including Black Latinas, who are standing up against injustice for all of us. White and brown Latinos must do more to fight racism in our newsrooms and beyond.”

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