American actor James Franco has attracted accusations of cultural appropriation after reports emerged that he had been cast as Fidel Castro in 'Alina of Cuba', an independent film about the life of Fidel’s daughter.
As news of Franco’s role came to be known, another prolific American actor, John Leguizamo, complained about this situation on his Instagram* page.
"How is Hollywood excluding us but stealing our narratives as well? No more appropriation Hollywood and streamers! Boycott! This F'd up! Plus seriously difficult story to tell without aggrandizement, which would [be] wrong! I don't got a [problem] with Franco but he ain't Latino!"
According to entertainment website, Collider, Leguizamo - who is of Colombian descent - has been a "fervent advocate for the inclusion of Latino actors and stories on-screen", as well as a "proponent of teaching more about Latino history and generally giving more recognition to the Latino community considering a growing percentage of the population is of Latino descent."
Several other actors echoed Leguizamo’s sentiment, with 'Night Sky' and 'SWAT' actor, Jeff Torres, complaining on Twitter: "I’m auditioning for another generic Latin-American drug dealer and James Franco is dead a** playing Fidel Castro. Latinos gettin’ done dirty af out here and everywhere. Damn lol."
CNN also pointed out that only 5 percent of the speaking roles in the top 100 movies in 2019 went to Latino actors, even though Latinos made up 18 percent of the US population.
*Instagram is banned in Russia over extremist activities