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At least he didn't say illegal

If there's one thing that I hope the audience got from Sean Penn is that not all Mexicans are here illegally.

That's the only positive thing that I can take from his joke. There have been explanations going around about how that's their friendship relationship. That's great that Sean is buddies with Alejandro, but that was not the right setting to say such a joke. This isn't at the dinner table Sean, this is the Oscars where you are in a suit, on national TV. That's how I've always seen the Oscars. I personally don't take offense to the joke. I've heard different versions of it plenty of times. In fact, it can even be interpreted as a compliment. Alejandro is so good, everyone needs to watch out. He is killing it in this country, a country that is not his own. I'm much more concerned though, unfortunately, with how the public interprets and understands this joke. This joke in a way correlates back to the claim that many anti-immigrant people say where Mexicans are taking all of the jobs. Mexicans are creating competition and benefiting from the country even though it's not theirs. This idea fits well with Alejandro. Alejandro is an immigrant and he is producing movies in the US and he's done such a good job that he won an Oscar.

For his acceptance speech, I thought he did speak to the joke. Although he was speaking broadly about immigration in the U.S. I thought it could have very well been directed at Sean. It served as a good non-confrontational response. I hope Sean was listening closely when he said "I just pray that they can be treated with the same dignity and respect of the ones who came before and built this incredible immigrant nation". Definitely think this line was directed towards Sean.

"I want to dedicate this award for my fellow Mexicans, the ones who live in Mexico. I pray that we can find and build the government that we deserve. And the ones that live in this country, who are part of the latest generation of immigrants in this country, I just pray that they can be treated with the same dignity and respect of the ones who came before and built this incredible immigrant nation.

OH, #PENNdejo started trending on Twitter. THAT is funny.

#penndejo #oscars #seanpenn #alejandro gonzález iñárritu #mexican #race #ethnicity

Serious question: Who gave Sean Penndejo a green card?

#RebelReport #Penndejo #SeanPenn

"Green Cards" on the Red Carpet

This year's Academy Awards may have been the most interesting – and politically charged – in Hollywood history. It was the whitest Oscars since 1998, and I'd just like to thank Neil Patrick Harris (and numerous media outlets) for bringing this issue to the forefront: "Tonight, we honor Hollywood's best and whitest – sorry, brightest." Though this was said as a joke, Harris' statement highlights Hollywood's history of underrepresenting and typecasting non-white actors, actresses, directors, etc. Sean Penn's derogatory comment toward Birdman director Alejandro González Iñárritu was uncalled for. Did anyone sitting in the audience feel just a bit awkward or stunned at hearing Penn utter "Who gave this sonofabitch a green card?" as he presented the award for Best Picture? Although Iñárritu later stated that he found the "joke" hilarious, more is at stake here than just his own dignity and ethnicity. The comment speaks to the larger mainstream American perception of what a Mexican American or Mexican immigrant is: a typically low wage laborer who came to the U.S. illegally (or whose parents came to the U.S. illegally) and now threatens the American way of life and its language. What is at stake is how the Mexican American community fits within the structure and culture of U.S. society. Does it need to be accepted and welcomed by the established white community before securing its place at the table? (The table being American society – its rights for citizens and residents, its political representation of various groups, its economic system which should not disadvantage entire populations of people based on ethnicity, its vision of what an "American" is or ought to be). A Mexican-born director can win an Oscar, but cannot shake off the stigma of otherness. Twitter, never failing us, responded to the situation with #Penndejo, a play on words with Penn's name and "pendejo" – a Spanish slang term for "dumbass."

#penndejo #oscarssowhite #oscars2015