John Leguizamo is one of several celebs who’s been using their massive platforms to urge followers to get to the polls in the presidential election.
And the Colombian-American actor has been focusing his efforts on the Latinx community in hopes to vote out President Donald Trump.
He recently blamed Republican fearmongering and ‘insidious self-hate’ for Trump landing some key Latinx votes in the nail-biting election, which has yet to be called since polls closed Tuesday.
The 56-year-old told The Hollywood Reporter: ‘There are Latin people that are Republican for whatever reason — self-hate or hyper-religious. It touches on some of the machoism too.
Latinx vote: John Leguizamo recently blamed Republican fearmongering and ‘insidious self-hate’ for Donald Trump landing some key Latinx votes in the nail-biting election (pictured in January, 2020)
Premature announcement: Trump ‘declared victory’ prematurely Tuesday night in a bizarre statement, even though he’s still trailing in key states
‘It makes them feel, “We’re assimilated” — you know that weird thing that happens to immigrants sometimes: If they attack other immigrants then they look less immigrant? There’s a history here.’
He continued to explain how Trump cornered the support from Latinx communities: ‘With Latino people, we’re always an afterthought, and that gets in my craw a little bit.
‘We’re the largest ethnic group in America, the second-oldest ethnic group in America after Native Americans — so it’s not like we just got here. It’s not like we’re not present and we’re not doing things.
Self-hate: The 56-year-old told The Hollywood Reporter: ‘There are Latin people that are Republican for whatever reason — self-hate or hyper-religious. It touches on some of the machoism too’ (pictured in January, 2019)
Using his platform: Leguizamo partnered with political action groups like The Lincoln Project and the Biden campaign, leveraging his 567k Instagram followers ahead of the election (pictured in September, 2019)
Latinx legends: He most recently appeared alongside Rita Moreno in an ad campaign targeting Latinx voters, backed by Popular Democracy PAC
‘If you don’t keep us in mind and put us in the forefront, you’re not going to get us. Nobody comes after us. Nobody knocks on our doors. Nobody’s talking about our issues.
‘Nobody has a Latinx vice presidential candidate or is dangling the carrot of Latins as cabinet members. Trump at least knew enough to target them. And that’s what he got. He got back what he put in, you know?’
Leguizamo also explained where Biden went wrong: ‘I know Biden had a lot of Latin people in his campaign, but he needed to talk about our issues and about us and mention us.
‘And court us. You’ve got to court us. Trump did court us and did go down there and microtarget Latino people in really clever and devious ways.’
He cited instances of fear-mongering, which targeted the Latinx community in Florida, where Trump won 45 percent of the Latinx vote, according to NBC News.
The To Wong Foo star said: ‘They would say to Colombians on call-in radio in Miami — because there are about 400,000 registered Colombians to vote and another million Cubans registered — they said, “Do you want Colombia to turn into Venezuela with this president? You will. And you know he’s a pedophile.”
An afterthought: He continued to explain how Trump cornered the support from Latinx communities: ‘With Latino people, we’re always an afterthought, and that gets in my craw a little bit’
Putting in the work: ‘Nobody has a Latinx vice presidential candidate or is dangling the carrot of Latins as cabinet members. Trump at least knew enough to target them. And that’s what he got. He got back what he put in, you know?’
Discuss the issues: Leguizamo also explained where Biden went wrong: ‘I know Biden had a lot of Latin people in his campaign, but he needed to talk about our issues and about us and mention us’
‘They did the pedophile thing. And then they said, “Don’t vote by mail because your vote will be lost and won’t be counted.” So they would put all these ads on, and not one of these radio stations contested it.’
Leguizamo partnered with political action groups like The Lincoln Project and the Biden campaign, leveraging his 567k Instagram followers ahead of the election.
He most recently appeared alongside Rita Moreno in an ad campaign targeting Latinx voters, backed by Popular Democracy PAC.
The Romeo + Juliet actor has not been shy about his disdain for Trump, who’s fueled hate against the Latinx community, promising a Mexico-funded border wall, as well as caging separating refugee children from their parents.
He said last month on Real Time with Bill Maher: ‘Latin people for Republicans are like roaches for Raid. Let’s just get real.
Fueling hate: The Romeo + Juliet actor has not been shy about his disdain for Trump, who’s fueled hate against the Latinx community, promising a Mexico-funded border wall, as well as caging separating refugee children from their parents (pictured in January, 2019)
Roaches for Raid: He said last month on Real Time with Bill Maher: ‘Latin people for Republicans are like roaches for Raid. Let’s just get real’
‘I just feel like there’s a level of self-hate, or just lack of care for the rest of your Latin brothers and sisters who are in cages, who are being demonized by this president.’
Several key states have yet to be called in this historic election, including Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina and Biden’s home state of Pennsylvania.
The Democratic candidate continues to lead the path to 270 electoral votes, with ABC News currently projecting 253 votes for Biden and 214 for Trump.
Trump ‘declared victory’ prematurely Tuesday night in a bizarre statement, even though he’s still trailing in those key states.
He’s also attempted to hold up the counts in states where he’s grasping onto a narrow margin, threatening lawsuits over baseless claims of fraud and intimidation.
The election may take days to call, if not weeks, which has been expected, as many voters have opted for mail-in ballots amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Tallying the votes: Joe Biden continues to lead the path to 270 electoral votes, with ABC News currently projecting 253 votes for the Democratic candidate and 214 for Trump