September 16, 2024
Statement on Behalf of Brenda Victoria Castillo, President and CEO, National Hispanic Media Coalition on the 2024 Emmy Awards
The National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) applauds the first-ever Latino Chair of the Television Academy, Cris Abrego for a historic Emmy Awards last night. Abrego said it best “when outstanding inclusive content is greenlit, academy members will find it and support it.”
A historic congratulations to Liza Colón-Zayas for being the first Latina to ever win Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Tina on The Bear and to Néstor Carbonell for his win as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his role as Vasco Rodrigues in Shōgun! We would also like to recognize NHMC Impact Award presenter Jodi Foster for her win as Best Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie for her role as Detective Liz Danvers in HBO’s True Detective: Night Country.
It was encouraging to see the diversity of our Latine community represented during one of the most important evenings for Television. From NHMC Visionary Alliance member Gina Torres to Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna presenting awards, with the latter duo doing so in Spanish to ”the more than 50 million Spanish speakers in this country,” we felt seen. John Leguizamo reminded us of the importance of representation and the steps the industry has made with last night being among the most diverse list of nominees in Emmy’s history - but we can’t stop there.
There are over 65.2 million Latines living in the U.S, accounting for 19.5% of the total population, yet in the Emmy performing categories, this year less than 6% of the submitted candidates by voters were Latine - resulting in a total of five Latine nominations.
A special recognition to the Latina nominees including NHMC Impact Award winner Issa López, Sofia Vergara, Selena Gomez, and Nava Mau for representing the diversity of our community at last evening's awards. We would also like to highlight the historic Native representation of the evening including Lily Gladstone, Kali Reis, and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai’s nominations.
Yet while we proudly stand and honor the wins for communities of color last night, we cannot – and will not – look past the countless stories from our community that continue to be denied the recognition they deserve.
Yours in Movement,
Brenda Victoria Castillo
President & CEO
National Hispanic Media Coalition
