Salma Hayek once apologized for promoting and praising “American Dirt,” a controversial novel by author Jeanine Cummins, without ever cracking the cover! The Mexican actress went on to blame Oprah for praising the book, which has drawn criticism for reinforcing Mexican-American stereotypes.
“American Dirt” follows the story of a middle-class Mexican bookstore owner who flees to the U.S.-Mexico border with her son after her family is slain by a drug cartel. Latin American communities slammed the highly publicized book for reinforcing certain Mexican stereotypes.
In 2020, Salma Hayek posted a picture of herself on Instagram holding the book and praising Oprah Winfrey for “giving a voice to the voiceless & for loving harder in response to hate.”
However, after facing online criticism, the actress blamed Oprah for promoting the controversial book without ever reading it. Salma Hayek said she “got very excited when Oprah shared with me the pick for her book club”, adding, “In the description of the book, I learned that it was the story of a Mexican woman, so I rushed into sharing my excitement with you. I confess, I have not read it and was not aware of any kind of controversy.”
Salma Hayek also sparked controversy in 2012
This was not the first time the actress has sparked controversy on a matter related to her heritage. In 2012, Salma Hayek landed in hot water over a German Vogue interview where she said, “I hardly had any memories of what it is to be Mexican. My life is completely different now.”
In wake of the interview, Huffington Post, cited a Hispanic blog, Guanabee, who said, “What did Salma mean by basically saying that she’s too French and rich for our blood?”
Shortly after, Hayek issued an apology, saying she didn’t mean to disparage Mexico and noted her comments were lost in translation.
