Invisible racism: Televisa’s case of discrimination against an actor

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For the television station, says the young actor, “a person with indigenous features cannot be a manager”.

” I feel angry. It really bothers me that still believe in these stereotypes , ” says Paolo, who last November 11th reported on social networks that he felt discriminated against in the casting of Televisa . 

Paolo Marcelo Luna Santos, 26, was born in León, Guanajuato , to an indigenous mother, from a Teenek community in the Huasteca Potosina. He is a young man with strong indigenous roots who studied a Bachelor of Performing Arts at the University of Guanajuato as well as being an actor, photographer, writer, plastic artist and dance teacher.

A week ago, he says, Televisa carried out tests for extras in the capital of Guanajuato for the project ” What happens to my family “, the new telenovela by Juan Osorio , a renowned Televisa producer who chose Guanajuato as the setting. For a week trucks, vans and cars arrived at different parts of the city to start filming.

Teams of people also arrived with the aim of gathering people to participate as extras in the different scenes of this telenovela. 

In the case of Paolo, who has been the protagonist and antagonist in different projects, he received the invitation to participate with Televisa , he clarifies, and emphasizes that he did not go to knock on the doors.

Paolo says that after receiving the invitation, he decided to participate in the casting . The meeting point was at a hotel located at the entrance of the capital city. In that place there were at least 40 other people, men and women.

The young man from Guanajuato details that, despite being the penultimate on the list, he was the only one who was not cast for “not fitting into the profiles,” since the search for extras did not include people with dark complexions. But Paolo assures that most of the participants were brown.

After some time of reflection, Paolo decided to make public what had happened to him, the discrimination he suffered. After his post on Facebook, Televisa again summoned more people, but now with the details of a specific search for people with dark complexions.

Source: lasillarota.com

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