Actor John Leguizamo's new TV docuseries spotlights Latino culture
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Hispanic workers are underrepresented in the media industry compared to their representation in the rest of the U.S. workforce. That is what the U.S. Government Accountability Office published last October. It's also what actor John Leguizamo has already known for his nearly 40-year show business career. So instead of waiting for the scales to even out, Leguizamo decided to bring the media to Latinos. On Sunday, he'll launch his new MSNBC docuseries called "Leguizamo Does America."
JOHN LEGUIZAMO: I go to New York City, D.C., Miami, Chicago, LA and Puerto Rico. And I'm looking for Latin excellence. I'm looking for Latin exceptionalism. I'm looking for all the people I know are out there. I'm meeting my painters, my dancers, my directors, architects, politicians, activists, restaurateurs, chefs. And we sit down, we commune with a great Latin meal, and some of us do a little Latin dancing. And we share, and we talk about what it's like to be Latinx in America at this time.
MARTÍNEZ: But you felt like it needed to happen, right? Like, America doesn't know that these people exist...
LEGUIZAMO: Right.
MARTÍNEZ: ...In a way.
LEGUIZAMO: They don't 'cause I've been pitching, dog. I've been pitching for 40 years to Hollywood, and nobody greenlights any script you write. You could - I could write like Shakespeare, but if it had Latin characters and a Latin name, they weren't going to greenlight it no matter how amazingly brilliant it was. And I didn't know that 'cause I was naive and ignorant, and I thought America was a meritocracy. You know, I was idealistic back then, thinking that, you know, talent would out, but it doesn't.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, you start off in your hometown in New York, but then you head south to Miami. I was born and raised in Los Angeles. And before I started traveling, John, traveling around the country, I never thought I had seen a more Latin American city than my city, Los Angeles...
LEGUIZAMO: It is.
MARTÍNEZ: ...Until I went to Miami, until I went to Miami. So tell us why the 305 is as La Raza as it possibly gets.
LEGUIZAMO: Well, I mean, what's happening in Miami is beyond, man. It's cross-pollination. It's the cradle of Latinx civilization. We're bringing culture. We're bringing great comedy, architecture, artists, food, everything. I mean, the way they talk Spanish, Spanglish, there is so dope.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
LEGUIZAMO: You know, I can't...
MARTÍNEZ: Flows from one thing to another.
LEGUIZAMO: Yes.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, easily.
LEGUIZAMO: Like, within a phrase. I stammer and stutter when I (speaking Spanish).
MARTÍNEZ: Oh, really?
LEGUIZAMO: (Speaking Spanish) they can do it, like...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
LEGUIZAMO: ...Back and forth. (Speaking Spanish) - I stammer, see?
MARTÍNEZ: Maybe you (speaking Spanish).
LEGUIZAMO: They don't...
MARTÍNEZ: Really easy, really easy. See? I just did it right there.
LEGUIZAMO: Yeah, yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. Miami also, you mentioned in that show, might be the most politically diverse Latinx voter base in America. Now, one decade it leans blue. One decade it leans red. You spoke to Miami writer and activist Carmen Pelaez about this.
LEGUIZAMO: Oh, I love her, man.
MARTÍNEZ: Let's hear this.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LEGUIZAMO DOES AMERICA")
CARMEN PELAEZ: Within the Cuban community, within the Nicaraguans, within every community that we have here in Miami, it's not just divided by older and younger. Conservatives and liberals bounce back and forth between generations and between waves of getting here.
MARTÍNEZ: You two mention how Barack Obama showed up in Miami, talked, listened...
LEGUIZAMO: Yes.
MARTÍNEZ: ...And then won over Latinos. And now Republicans are kind of taking a page from that playbook, too.
LEGUIZAMO: Yep.
MARTÍNEZ: They're doing the same thing. Why do you think Latinos respond to that?
LEGUIZAMO: 'Cause nobody's knocking on our door. Nobody's coming for us. Democrats were asleep at the helm. Republicans were not. They went to Miami and hit them up in their Spanish-speaking radio stations, hitting them with trigger words like socialism, communism. We thought, well, we don't need to go after them. They're all Democrats. Boom - you lost a huge part of Miami and elsewhere. I'm of great belief that we have to be much more aggressive because things are not changing, and they need to change now. There's so much wasted Latin talent in America right now. It breaks my heart.
MARTÍNEZ: You also came to Los Angeles. Tell me - tell us why you say you call Hollywood Hollywouldn't (ph). You said you say it with love, though. But tell us why.
LEGUIZAMO: Because that rejection made me really strong, you know, because it made me never want to be a part of Hollywood. It made me disrespect Hollywood and want to dismantle it. And I think that was the healthiest thing that ever could have happened to me.
MARTÍNEZ: In that LA episode, you also spoke to Gloria Calderon Kellett, TV producer, showrunner. She was telling you about when she was approached by Norman Lear to reboot "One Day At A Time"...
LEGUIZAMO: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: ...With a Latino family. Let's listen to what she said.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "LEGUIZAMO DOES AMERICA")
GLORIA CALDERON KELLETT: He said, well, we're thinking about doing a Latino version. I was like, I don't know, Norman. I don't know if you should. And he was like, well, why not? I said, 'cause people try to do it.
LEGUIZAMO: Yeah.
CALDERON KELLETT: And we as an audience, we're a hard audience...
LEGUIZAMO: Yeah, yeah.
CALDERON KELLETT: ...Because there's been such a starvation for representation...
LEGUIZAMO: Yeah.
CALDERON KELLETT: ...That when one thing exists, we're like, it better represent all of us.
LEGUIZAMO: Yeah, because all we have is one show.
CALDERON KELLETT: One.
MARTÍNEZ: What you just said right there, what you two discussed, the fact that, like, when that one show shows up and everyone's looking at it and everyone, you know, praying to God that it's going to work, and if it doesn't, then everything starts getting torn down around - is that a Hollywood problem, or is that a Latino problem?
LEGUIZAMO: That is a Hollywood problem because white people get to fail. And they have "Waterworld." They have "Jack And Jill." They have a million things that don't work. We don't get that chance. We get one chance, and everybody is expecting it to be the most brilliant thing, and if it ain't, we're done. We need to have that same pipeline of stories being told that fail, and then eventually we'll get a great one.
MARTÍNEZ: What's the one thing, would you say, that Latinos in the United States don't understand about themselves and how we fit in in the U.S.?
LEGUIZAMO: Well, I think we don't know how much power we had 'cause I didn't know, you know, till I started doing "Latin History For Morons," my last one-man show, and started doing crazy research and became a stats freak. I mean, our numbers are so huge. And you're going, wait a minute, wait a minute, I thought we were just this tiny little fraction, and now I want more. Now I feel more entitled. I'm not going to accept no for an answer. I'm not going to accept less than 20%. And that's because we don't know.
MARTÍNEZ: But isn't it one thing to know that that power is there and the - and a completely other thing to have confidence in using that power?
LEGUIZAMO: That gives you confidence. That gave me confidence. It gave me power. It made me much more political. It made me much more outspoken. It made me want to get loud. It made me want to make noise. And that's what we got to do.
MARTÍNEZ: How much energy, John, do you have to continue to kind of lead the way there because there's a void? You fill that void when it comes to pointing things out about Latinos and the way they're treated in the United States. I mean, how much energy do you have to continue doing that?
LEGUIZAMO: I have all the energy in the world, my brother. I feel like there's a lot of Latinx out there who are organizing, who are doing grassroots. And you see all these other Latinx people who are creatives who are coming up with Latin stories and want to see more plays. I see all the new - I was just in New York at the Public Theater, and I was doing a workshop, but there were, like, four other Latinx workshops. I had never seen so many Latin creatives in one room, and we all hugged each other and talked and celebrated and high-fived. And it's happening. People are listening. They're paying attention. And they realize that there's a void, and it needs to be filled with Latinx.
MARTÍNEZ: John Leguizamo's docuseries on MSNBC is called "Leguizamo Does America." John, thanks for stopping by.
LEGUIZAMO: Thank you for having me. What a pleasure, man. Thank you for asking the right questions.
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