A Mexican soap opera star apologised on Friday for using a racial slur to describe actress Yalitza Aparicio, whose performance in the critically acclaimed film ‘Roma’ made her the first indigenous woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar.
Video footage surfaced on Twitter on Friday in which actor Sergio Goyri, 60, can be heard criticising the film community for nominating “a [expletive] Indian who says, ‘Yes, ma’am, no, ma’am.’”
Aparicio, a 25-year-old from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, played a domestic worker in director Alfonso Cuaron’s ‘Roma’, which received 10 Oscar nominations, including a nod for best actress for Aparicio.
The only thing I want to say is that it was never my intent to offend anyone. I apologise to Yalitza, who deserves [this Oscar nomination] and much more. For me, it is an honour to see a Mexican be nominated for an Oscar."
Later on Friday, Goyri posted a video on social media site Instagram apologising for his remarks.
“The only thing I want to say is that it was never my intent to offend anyone. I apologise to Yalitza, who deserves [this Oscar nomination] and much more,” he said.
“For me, it is an honour to see a Mexican be nominated for an Oscar.” Aparicio said on Saturday that she was proud of her indigenous roots.
“I am proud to be an Oaxacan indigenous woman, and it saddens me that there are people who do not know the correct meaning of words,” Aparicio, who became the first indigenous woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar, said in a statement.
‘Roma’ chronicles the life of an upper middle class family in the Mexico City neighbourhood where Cuaron was raised. The film, which was released by Netflix, has been nominated for 10 Oscars at the Academy Awards, to be held on Feb. 24.
