Rosie Perez, one of the most distinctive voices in American film, is also an activist. She’s serves on the president’s advisory council on HIV/AIDs and makes a point to speak up on the issues that matter to her.
She made waves in the 2012 election when she made a YouTube video mocking Mitt Romney for claiming he’d have an easier time getting elected if he were Latino.
On PoliticsNation, Perez said the video was inspired by Romney’s appearance on Univision in September when he seemed to have gotten a spray tan (it turned out it was just an orange make-up job). “I said ‘oh come on!” and you had to say something!” She also said she was wanted to do it “for the 47%.”
Romney’s post-election remarks claiming Obama won reelection because he gave gifts to certain voters upset Perez even more. “It’s a prejudiced statement plain and simple. What is he implying? That every single African-American, every single Latino American is poor? Is on public welfare?” she asked. “I guess he did not learn anything from his loss.”
Perez also took on the idea that there was something wrong with the welfare benefits that Romney was referring to with his “gifts” line, asking “What is the problem with gifts? I was a person who received gifts.” And being on the receiving end wasn’t pleasant. “Going to school with a lunch card was very hard. Standing on line to receive a block of cheese was very hard. Wearing hand-me-downs to school was very hard.”








