October 16, 2018
PRESS STATEMENT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Latino Leaders Join Nationwide Campaign Against Paramount Pictures For Dismal Hiring of Latinos
(WASHINGTON, DC) — The board of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of 45 of the nation’s most preeminent Latino advocacy organizations, today announced it is joining a national campaign targeting Paramount Pictures over its abysmal record of Latino inclusion in movies.
In a letter to Paramount’s top executive, NHLA outlined its support for an ongoing boycott of the studio, noting Paramount’s status as the “worst-performing movie studio with respect to Latino inclusion,” and its refusal to work with the National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) and the National Latino Media Council (NLMC) to address the dearth of Latinos in front of and behind the camera.
“As our letter indicates, NHLA must insist on inclusion commensurate with Latino
representation in the nation's population,” said Thomas A. Saenz, NHLA chair and MALDEF president and general counsel. “Longstanding patterns of near-complete exclusion made it, in part, possible for Donald Trump to target and demonize Latinos from the beginning of his electoral campaign through today.”
NHLA’s support comes one day before a scheduled protest outside of Paramount Studios, where demonstrators plan to deliver a petition calling on studio executives to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to increase the presence of Latinos in front of and behind the camera.
Read the letter HERE.
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(The policy positions of NHLA do not reflect the views of every member organization, but reflect the decisions of NHLA as a whole.)
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Sandra Hernandez at (213) 629-2512, ext. 129, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tony Marcano at (213) 629-2512, ext. 128, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
