Are The ALMA Awards Racist?
25 August 2009, 4:57 PM. By Alex Alvarez
As we told you earlier, George Lopez will be introducing us to his unique brand of hosting at the ALMA Awards on September 17. His co-host will, of course, be Eva Longoria, whom we are slowly suspecting only produces the show so that she can be in it.
The show will include honors for everyone’s favorite fantasy threesome Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek, as well as for John Leguizamo and Rosario Dawson. Which we specifically mention because… don’t these particular Latinos already receive a lot of recognition, roles, opportunities, endorsements and accolades?
We bring this up because the group which created the ALMA Awards, the National Council of La Raza, came up with it for the purpose of promoting “diverse and fair portrayals of Latinos in the media.” The NCLR has also been called racist by such sophisticated scholars as Tom Tancredo (Although, actually, he merely referred to them as “La Raza.” But scholars are allowed to misidentify and misquote. Their brains are so full of… knowledge… that sometimes… shit… slips out.)
Now, we personally wouldn’t go so far as to call either the awards show or the NCLR racist - they’re neither hateful to others because of willful hatred or ignorance. They attempt to portray Latinos in a positive light and give us credit where credit due and rarely given. However…
How does the ALMA Awards offer up diversity or fairness by doling out awards and honors to the same Latino performers who garner attention all the time? Does Salma Hayek require a special platform to celebrate her work and the opportunities she’s given other Latinos? Is there any Latino who follows media who is not aware of her name or accomplishments? Were receiving Oscars not enough to push Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz into the mainstream consciousness? There are plenty of Latino actors, singers, directors, screenwriters, b l o g g e r s, dancers, choreographers, etc. who don’t get recognition and who aren’t known or given opportunities to share their craft. Wouldn’t this awards show provide the perfect platform to allow them to do that?
We suppose that, while we’re glad the ALMA Awards exist, we can see why it might receive criticism or questions as to why it exists and what purpose it hopes to serve. We mean, come on:
Performers on the night will include David Archuleta, Nelly Furtado, Selena Gomez, Sean Kingston, Pitbull and Luis Fonsi.
Adam Rodriguez, Benjamin Bratt, Michelle Rodriguez, Oscar Nunez and Rey Mysterio are among the show’s presenters.
We mean… any opportunity to feature Oscar Nuñez (Oscar from The Office) is a-ok by us (and, yes, fine, we miss David Archuleta), but why not mix these higher profile names with Latinos we don’t know who work in the media and focus on those who aren’t famous or always in front of the camera or on stage or splashed across tabloids? We mean, come on, guys. We love seeing Eva Longoria dressed as a giant feather duster as much as the next person, but we want some new names to write about and new faces to watch onscreen and eventually come to write about snarkily.
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Plain and simple, this is a fundraising mechanism for NCLR. Not much else.
ugh…rey misterio? man i feel bad for awesome directors like almodovar and guillermo del toro and their actors b/c i’ve never seen them recognized by these types of “inspirational” award shows, maybe it’s for the best. I bet there’s a salsa number during the broadcast too.
Wasn’t Prince in last year’s ALMA awards? Anyway, those awards have been given out to every single successful Hispanic person in mainstream American TV, music and film. Even the fat guy from Lost got an Alma award, for being Hispanic, I guess. Kenny Ortega, the director of such cinematic masterpieces as “THe Cheetah Girls” and “High School Musical” 1, 2 & 3 has been honored by the NCLR. I don’t think the awards are exclusive or “racist” at all. They seem to give it to everyone. Have you ever seen the old shows, or the least of honorees for this year? Every Latino/a working on mainstream American TV, film (and even sports) gets an Alma award as a matter of course. It just happens that this year is more “star-packed” than previous years. It’s not a real award show, there’s no competition. They’re even giving an award to the guy that did the makeup on Hellboy 2! I mean, isn’t Guillermo del Toro’s Cafe FX company handling all the special effects and makeup for all his movies? Aren’t they all Mexican?
The ALMA awards are so irrelevant and so delightfully campy. You have to tune in this year. THERE WILL BE A TRIBUTE TO RICARDO MONTALBAN, OKAY? It will be presented by Rita Moreno. While wearing a sombrero and holding a Cuban cigar, or something.
http://www.almaawards.com/2009-show.html
WHY DONT YOU GIVE ONE TO CAMERON DIAZ?. IS SHE “LATINA” OR IS SHE “NORTH-AMERICAN”. WHAT IS BEING LATIN?…….
NORTH-AMERICANS OF SOUTH-AMERICAN ORIGIN (WHITE, BLACK, AMERINDIAN OR MIXED) ARE AS IGNORANT AS THE STUPID AVERAGE (NORTH-)AMERICAN CITIZEN. THERE IS NOT SUCH A THING AS THE LATINO WORLD. THAT TERM WAS GIVEN BY NAPOLEON TO SOUTH-AMERICAN COUNTRIES WHO SPOKE EUROPEAN LANGUAGES WHO CAME FROM LATIN (CASTILIAN/SPANISH, FRENCH AND PORTUGUESE).
ANYWAY MOST (NORTH)-AMERICANS BELIEVE THAT COLON WAS A KIND OF AZTEC PRINCE AND THAT LATIN IS THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF SOUTHAMERICA. IN EUROPE WE’RE FED UP WITH YOUR STUPIDITY AND IGNORANCE.
P.D: IN SPAIN WE’RE FED UP ALSO OF ANTONIO BANDERAS, JAVIER BARDEM AND PENELOPE CRUZ. IF THEY FEEL LATIN, THEY SHOULD PERMANENTELY CROSS THE OCEAN, REQUEST MEXICAN NATIONALITY OR ANY OTHER AND NOT COME BACK TO EUROPE ANYMORE.
I HOPE ONE DAY ALL AMERICANS GET TO KNOW THAT COLON WAS THE HITLER OF THE 15TH/16TH CENTURY………
The ALMA awards is not racists, but the critics, good or bad, the film and Hollywood news shows had no mention of it at all the next day. I had to search to find it, and this site. Ray