Rita Moreno defended Lin-Manuel Miranda after the producer attracted charges of “colorism” for the casting in his recent film, In the Heights.
Moreno, an Academy Award-winning Puerto Rican actress with a career spanning decades, said the accusations that In the Heights doesn’t feature dark-skinned Afro-Latino actors in prominent roles “really upsets” her.
“It’s like you can never do right, it seems,” she said on Tuesday’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
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Moreno worked with Miranda, also of Puerto Rican descent, on her new documentary Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It, which follows Moreno’s journey from Puerto Rico to success in Hollywood and on Broadway.
“This is the man who literally has brought Latino-ness and Puerto Rican-ness to America. I couldn’t do it. I mean, I would love to say I did, but I couldn’t,” she told Colbert. “Lin-Manuel has done that, really single-handedly, and I’m thrilled to pieces. And I’m proud that he produced my documentary.”
Moreno asked Miranda’s critics to “wait a while and leave it alone.”
“There’s a lot of people who are puertorriqueño, who are also from Guatemala, who are dark and who are also fair,” she continued. “We are all colors in Puerto Rico.”
Miranda addressed the controversy on Monday, tweeting that he can “hear the hurt and frustration over colorism, of feeling still unseen in the feedback.”
“I hear that without sufficient dark-skinned Afro-Latino representation, the work feels extractive of the community we wanted so much to represent with pride and joy,” he continued. “In trying to paint a mosaic of this community, we fell short. I’m truly sorry.”
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In the Heights tells the story of Usnavi, a poor New York bodega owner envisioning a better life. Miranda himself stars in the production, playing the role of Piragüero.
In 2015, Miranda attracted attention for writing the musical Hamilton, which featured the Founding Fathers of the United States played by minority cast members.
