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Actor Jamie Lee Curtis is in hot water after comments she made about her Knives Out co-star Ana de Armas' Cuban origins.
In a new profile of de Armas in Elle, Curtis told the magazine upon first meeting her during Knives Out's production, she assumed she was "inexperienced" and "unsophisticated" because she comes from Cuba.
Curtis also told Elle she feels "real embarrassment" about the conclusions she leapt to about de Armas, but that did little to tamp down the backlash that has erupted, especially among Latin American people.
\u201cJamie Lee Curtis assumed Ana de Armas was \u201cunsophisticated\u201d because she\u2019s a young latina immigrant. It\u2019s this type of attitude/thinking that leads to Hispanic women being the most underpaid demographic in the US.\u201d— Alix Mendoza (@Alix Mendoza) 1657739213
Curtis' comments do indeed reveal the all too common and deeply embarrassing assumptions often made about Latin American people.
Curtis told Elle:
“I assumed—and I say this with real embarrassment—because she had come from Cuba, that she had just arrived."
"I made an assumption that she was an inexperienced, unsophisticated young woman."
"That first day, I was like, ‘Oh, what are your dreams?'"
Though Knives Out was a star-making performance that immediately launched de Armas onto Hollywood's A-list, she was hardly a newcomer when filming began.
Prior to her Knives Out breakout, she'd already appeared in the Todd Phillips comedy War Dogs, horror filmmaker Eli Roth's Knock Knock and Blade Runner 2049, the high-profile 2017 sequel to the original 1982 Blade Runner.
She'd also had a long career in Spanish-language film and television, particularly in Spain, that dates all the way back to 2006.
Curtis also told Elle she was surprised to find how many Hollywood A-listers de Armas had already forged relationships with, including her Knock Knock costar Keanu Reeves, and Curtis' godchildren Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
To some degree, Curtis could be excused for assuming de Armas was a newcomer.
The star herself told Elle she feels like an outsider in Hollywood.
“I feel sometimes that I’m not part of the Cuban artist community, and then I was in Spain and I feel like I’m not part of the community there..."
"And then I’m here, and I feel like I’m not there yet either. You know?"
"Am I part of the community? I barely know anybody."
But as many pointed out on Twitter, Curtis' presumptions about her colleague are emblematic about the sorts of stereotypes frequently leveled at Latin American people, especially Latina women.
And the backlash against her has been intense.
\u201cThe casual racism of Jamie Lee Curtis re; Ana De Armas is... both infuriating and totally expected. It's cringy as hell, and also exactly in line with how Americans are told and taught to think about both Cuba specifically and Hispanic people generally.\u201d— Luciano, But They Are Quite Proud (@Luciano, But They Are Quite Proud) 1657731551
\u201cWHAT IN THE ACTUAL F*CK?????\n\n\u201cI assumed\u2014and I say this with real embarrassment\u2014because she had come from Cuba, that she had just arrived,\u201d Curtis said. \u201cI made an assumption that she was an inexperienced, unsophisticated young woman.\u201d\n\nhttps://t.co/WciENOicPK via @variety\u201d— Clayton Davis - Stand with \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Clayton Davis - Stand with \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1657726235
\u201cjamie lee curtis when she realized ana de armas could speak english: \u201d— lauryn\u2728 (@lauryn\u2728) 1657735879
\u201cI think it\u2019s interesting when white people show the angles from which they assume black and brown inexperience. It\u2019s often part of the reason we have to work much harder to be treated like professionals\u2026\n\nhttps://t.co/Kdy5Q8NOJ4\u201d— adab\ud83d\udd2e\u0623\u062f\u0628\u200e (@adab\ud83d\udd2e\u0623\u062f\u0628\u200e) 1657791391
\u201cJamie Lee Curtis really showed her white savior complex, for the poor little Latina from Cuba, with her whole fucking chest when talking about Ana de Armas. Imagine having the audacity to say something like this? In this economy? It's baffling...\ud83d\ude48\u201d— Lyra Hale \ud83d\udd1c SDCC (@Lyra Hale \ud83d\udd1c SDCC) 1657731981
\u201cAna de Armas has more beauty, talent and class in her left toe than Jamie Lee Curtis ever had in her entire career\u201d— an idiot sandwich .\u30fb\u272d (@an idiot sandwich .\u30fb\u272d) 1657741961
\u201cJamie Lee Curtis being all rude towards Ana de armas assuming she's all unsophisticated like she literally didn't get her career started from a shoestring budget slasher movie\u201d— \uff46\uff41\uff54\uff53\uff4f\ud83e\udd87 (@\uff46\uff41\uff54\uff53\uff4f\ud83e\udd87) 1657808929
\u201cI really think some celebs just shouldn\u2019t talk. Lol. Reading Jamie Lee Curtis\u2019s preconceived notions of Ana De Armas is gross. You thought she was \u201cunsophisticated\u201d because she had just moved from Cuba? GTFO.\u201d— Kyla Sylvers (@Kyla Sylvers) 1657733311
\u201cTIL that Ana de Armas fought the same battle in character and out of character https://t.co/XEDkvAfCms\u201d— Beth C-C (@Beth C-C) 1657820687
\u201cJamie Lee Curtis admitting she thought Ana de Armas had just arrived from Cuba when they met on "Knives Out" is.... yikes.\n\n\u201cI made an assumption that she was an inexperienced, unsophisticated young woman."\n\nhttps://t.co/wV2SoOrYdA\u201d— Zack Sharf (@Zack Sharf) 1657726199
Regardless of what Curtis may have assumed about de Armas, the latter's A-list status is fully secure.
Her next role will be none other than screen icon Marilyn Monroe in the Netflix film Blonde, a fictional portrait of the star based on Joyce Carole Oates' novel.