Following criticisms actress Eva Longoria received for seemingly downplaying how Black female voters were instrumental in ensuring Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the just-ended election as compared to her fellow Latina voters, the actress has moved to apologize.
The 45-year-old made those comments over the weekend during an interview with Ari Melber on MSNBC after several major news outlets confirmed Biden as president-elect.
“Women of color showed up in big ways,” she said. “Of course, you saw in Georgia what Black women have done but Latina women were the real heroines here, beating men in turnout in every state and voting Biden-Harris at an average rate of close to 3 to 1. And that wasn’t surprising to us.”
Her comments drew the ire of several people who pointed to the fact that Black women actually showed up and voted massively for Biden on the contrary. According to the Washington Post’s exit poll, 90% of Black women and 69% of Latina women voted for Biden respectively.
In a follow-up interview on the The Reid Out show on MSNBC on Tuesday, the actress apologized for her previous comments, admitting she was wrong.
“In my effort to celebrate Latina turnout, I diminished the importance of the Black women’s vote in this election. And what I said was wrong,” Longoria said. “It is a fact that African American women showed up in record numbers and brought us to victory. They saved this country. And I recognize the harm that my words caused. If we’ve learned anything from this administration is that words matter. So I take full responsibility for that mistake.”
Longoria issued another apology on Wednesday in an interview on the Pod Is a Woman podcast.
“I definitely want to start off by not defending myself in saying, I’m absolutely sorry,” she told hosts Alejandra Campoverdi, Darienne Page, and Johanna Maska.
“I did misspeak. It wasn’t my intention but that was my action. I really recognize the harm I caused. I know words matter. I know this and I know better. I take full responsibility. So when I got that barrage of backlash I was like yep, you’re right. And I’m doing the work to repair the harm. I was trying to say Latinas, meaning women from the Latino community, because men did not show up like women did…I want to make sure that I use this opportunity for solidarity building, like deep solidarity that’s rooted in deep conversations.”
