John Leguizamo makes dig at Hollywood’s history of brownface in fiery Emmys speech

‘Encanto’ and ‘Ice Age’ actor said that growing up, he ‘didn’t see a lot of people on TV who looked like me’

Colombian actor John Leguizamo called out Hollywood’s history of brownface during an impassioned Emmys speech.

The Encanto and Ice Age star, 64, took the stage on Sunday (September 15) to introduce Cris Abrego, the first-ever Latino Chair of the Television Academy.

Before doing so, however, Leguizamo addressed the “beautiful and diverse” crowd, sharing that when he was growing up in Jackson Heights, Queens, he “didn’t know that people like me could be actors.”

“At 15, I didn’t know the word representation,” he said, “but I saw a lot of brownface.”

Leguizamo went on to cite non-Latin actors who portrayed Latino characters, including “Marlon Brando playing [Mexican revolutionary] Emiliano Zapata and Al Pacino playing Cuban gangster Tony Montana and Natalie Wood playing a Puerto Rican beauty named Maria.”

“Everybody played us except us,” he added. “I didn’t see a lot of people on TV who looked like me.”

“Of course, there was always [I Love Lucy’s] Ricky Ricardo,” the Carlitos Way actor continued, while also recognizing the Looney Tunes cartoon mouse Speedy Gonzales and his “lethargic, useless sidekick” Slowpoke Rodriguez.

John Leguizamo says he ‘didn’t see a lot of people on TV who looked like me’ in Emmys speech (Getty Images)

“And that’s how we saw ourselves because that’s all we saw of ourselves,” he said, quipping: “I used to watch StarTrek and think, ‘Wow, in the future there ain’t gonna be no Latin people.

“For years I didn’t complain about the limited roles my people were offered… Turns out not complaining doesn’t change anything. So for the past few years, I’ve been complaining,” Leguizamo said, referencing an open letter he recently penned for the New York Times calling on Emmy voters to nominate his fellow peers of color in “not just one category, but ALL categories.”

“Let us not continue to whitewash our Awards. Instead let this year be the catalyst that inspires the Next Generation of minority and underrepresented artists...a generation who might finally see a reflection of themselves on that stage and think, ‘If they can, maybe I can too’,” he wrote.

On stage, Leguizamo then celebrated this year’s list of nominees for being the “most diverse list.”

“Selena Gomez is nominated for Only Murders in the Building,” he applauded while also commemorating Sofía Vergara, Issa Lopez, Kali Reis and Nava Mau, for their notable nominations.

That night, The Bear’s Liza Colón-Zayas made Emmy history as the first-ever Latina to triumph in the supporting actress category.

Beginning her acceptance speech, Colón-Zayas thanked her husband, who “told me to write a speech. I didn’t because I didn’t think it would be possible to be in the presence of [fellow nominees] Meryl Streep, Carol Burnett, and Janelle [James], Sheryl Lee Ralph and Hannah [Einbinder].”

“And to all the Latinas who are looking at me, keep believing and vote,” she concluded, urging viewers to “vote for your rights” in the November presidential election.

Find the full list of 2024 Emmy winners here.