John Leguizamo (The Menu) delivered a powerful monologue on the importance of Hollywood representation at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday night in Los Angeles. During his speech, he addressed the ongoing issue of non-Latine actors being cast in Latine roles and highlighted his full-page ad in The New York Times—a bold open letter to the television academy calling for greater representation in Emmy categories.
Taking the stage to introduce Television Academy chair, Cris Abrego, Leguizamo started his speech by joking that he was a “DEI hire” and then redefined the phrase. He was seemingly referencing the racist comments that have been aimed at Democratic presidential hopeful Kamala Harris over the last few months.
“The ‘D’ is for diligence, the ‘E’ is for excellence, the ‘I’ is for imagination,” Leguizamo said. “And everyone in this room tonight has dedicated their lives to diligence, excellence, and imagination, so we are all DEI hires. What a beautiful, diverse group this is tonight.”
Leguizamo went on to mention some of the non-Latine actors who have played Latine roles over the years, including Marlon Brando in the 1952 Western Viva Zapata!, Al Pacino in the 1983 crime drama Scarface, and Natalie Wood in the original 1961 musical West Side Story.
“At 15, I didn’t know the word representation… but I saw a lot of brown faces,” Leguizamo said. “Everybody played us, except us. I didn’t see a lot of people on TV that looked like me.”
He congratulated each Latine and Indigenous Emmy nominee this year, including Selena Gomez for Only Murders in the Building and Sofia Vergara for Griselda.
It’s important to note that Leguizamo has faced criticism in the past for overlooking Afro-Latino nominees, such as Colman Domingo and Jharrell Jerome, when discussing Latine representation at the award show. In a 2022 interview with Deadline, Leguizamo addressed these concerns, asking, “What happened to all the Afro-Latinos and the majority of the indigenous Latinos? They don’t get a shot.”
Before the Emmys, Leguizamo let his fans on Instagram know something special was coming during his Emmys presentation.
“Getting ready to present at the Emmy Awards!” Leguizamo wrote. “My speech will rock you!”
It sure did, John.
Watch the speech in full here.