Hollywood Latinos ‘Devastated’ and Even Bedridden as Trump Era Beckons

Yannina Diaz gave birth to her son soon after President Obama’s election, and thought the world had changed. But it changed for her again when Donald Trump was elected.

“Now I fear for my child and I fear for myself,” said Diaz, publicity director at the Jim Henson Company. “That he will have the same obstacles I did.”

Few in Hollywood were happy about Donald Trump’s victory. But for entertainment-industry Latinos like Diaz, it was especially painful to see Trump win — especially after he said early in his campaign that many Mexicans who come to the United States bring crime and drugs, and are “rapists.”

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Diaz said that when she recounted her fears to one of her non-Latino colleagues, “She broke down in tears. She knows her children don’t face the same obstacles.”

Reaching out to Hollywood Latinos for their stories, TheWrap heard of several at studios and agencies who were so disappointed after Trump’s win that they didn’t make it into work.

“I was in bed for almost two days after this election,” Hillary Clinton supporter actress Eva Longoria told “Extra” host Mario Lopez. She took to Instagram the day after the election to share that she had a “broken heart.”

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One Latino powerbroker, who asked not to be identified, said the Trump win “shows that either we have no unity as a community, or are simply too indifferent to make use of it.”

“If the former, it’s a warning sign,” he told TheWrap.

Longoria has expressed hope that Trump would tone down his rhetoric now that he is White House-bound. But Longoria was also among the first public figures to compare the president-elect to Adolf Hitler. (“Hitler moved a nation with words, just words,” she said last summer at a National Association of Latino Independent Producers Media Summit luncheon.)

Other prominent Hollywood Latinos who have spoken out include director Guillermo del Toro, “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, and actress America Ferrera — who urged her Twitter followers to protest and report harassment.

“A platform of hate won,” Ferrera wrote in one of her many anti-Trump tweets since the election. “We can be sad about that and be ready to fight back at the same time. My chin is up even when my heart sags.”

The pain of Trump’s victory was compounded for Hollywood Latinos when he promised on CBS’ “60 Minutes” Sunday to deport or jail up to three million “criminal” undocumented immigrants.

Mitzye Ramos Ribas, publicity manager at Think Jam, came into work the day after the election — “but I was devastated,” she said. She and her husband responded by increasing their contributions to organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

“It made me more of an activist,” Ribas told TheWrap. “Much more so than before.”