Update (November 11, 2020):  Actress and activist Eva Longoria apologized on-air for her comments this weekend about the role Black women played in bringing out voters for the Nov. 3 election. 

Longoria appeared on Joy Reid’s MSNBC show The ReidOut and profusely apologized for trying to downplay the role of Black women in securing President-elect Joe Biden’s win.

"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. It is a fact that African American women showed up in record numbers and brought us to victory. They saved this country," Longoria told Reid. 

She said she was exhausted when she appeared on MSNBC and did not mean to denigrate Black women while she lauded the work of Latina women.

“I recognize the harm that my words caused and if we’ve learned anything from this administration, it's that words matter. So I take full responsibility for that mistake because I want everybody to know that we stand on the shoulders of Black women who always show up. Black women have carried us for decades when it comes to civic engagement,” Longoria said. 

“And I get that there’s a collective exhaustion and hurt at feeling erased yet again, and I contributed to that pain in a moment where Black women should have been lifted up, not erased. I failed to do that. This is what an uncomfortable moment looks like and I can only show up and be better and do better and that's what I'm doing,” she added. 

Responses to her apology were mixed. One person said it was understandable to mess up while on live TV while another said the comments reflected how Longoria truly felt about Black women.

“Honorable and classy. As someone who has not always articulated my thoughts as clearly as I intended on live tv, I appreciate how hard this can be. Almost everyone in here saying this was unforgivable and she said exactly what she meant has never done a live tv interview. Trust. That is all,” said New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones on Twitter.

Others were far less forgiving.

“Listen…. when are we gonna learn that everything isn’t forgivable? She articulated perfectly exactly what she meant. She came on set with clear intentions on what she’d say, & she didn’t stutter. Take it for exactly what it is; erasure,” one Twitter user wrote.

Original (November 9, 2020): For the past week, many online and in the media have been lauding the painstaking work of Black women in Georgia, Minnesota, Michigan and Pennsylvania for helping to push the swing states in favor of president-elect Joe Biden.

During her speech on Saturday night, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris specifically shouted out Black women, telling the millions watching that Black women are often overlooked yet "so often prove they are the backbone of our democracy."

But actress Eva Longoria took a much different view of the situation. In an interview on MSNBC Sunday night, Longoria went out of her way to compare the work of Latina women and Black women, telling host Ari Melber that Latina women "are the real heroines."

“The women of color showed up in big ways. Of course, you saw in Georgia what Black women have done but Latina women are the real heroines here, beating men in turnout in every state, and voting for Biden/Harris at an average rate of 3-to-1," Longoria said when asked about the role women played in Biden's win.


As one would expect, this did not go over well. Online, people of all ethnicities criticized the actress for trying to make it a competition and for trying to downplay the pivotal work of countless Black women.

Backlash to her statement was swift, the 45-year-old quickly released a statement where she said her comments were being misunderstood.

"Black women have long been the backbone of the Democratic Party, something we have seen played out in this election as well as previous ones. Black women absolutely should be applauded and lifted up! They brought this victory home in a BIG way!" Longoria wrote on Twitter.

"I was comparing Latinas to Latino men. Not black women. I meant Latinas were the ones who showed up for our LatinX community. Finally, Black women don’t have to do it alone. Latina women and other women of color are standing with them and growing their voice and power. Together we are unstoppable!!! Black women turned out 90% for Biden. I as a Latina, aspire to be as engaged as effective as they are!" she added.

She later wrote a longer iOS press release where she said she meant to highlight that Latina women were turning out more than Latino men, and did not mean to downplay the work of Black women.

Longoria's friend, actress Kerry Washington, vouched for her in another Twitter post.

But the apologies did little to quell the anger online.

Others pointed out that not only were Longoria's comments offensive, they were untrue. Exit polling data shows that 91% of Black women voted for Biden and Harris while 70% of Latina women did the same. 

Others questioned why Longoria couldn't tout the work of Latina women without being comparative.

Latinx people also criticized Longoria for what she said.

There were also some jokes about the comment as well. 

The actress' comments are part of a larger wave of liberal backlash toward the Black women who delivered Democrats crucial victories in a number of swing states.

As Blavity previously reported, conservative Democrats have complained in recent days about their belief that protests against the police, led in part by Black women, fueled Republican attack ads against them.

Multiple conservative Democrats have criticized Rep. Ilhan Omar and other liberal women of color despite the massive wins they secured for the president-elect. 

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