John Leguizamo Slams Trump's Anti-DEI Administration: 'It's Like A White-Only Club'
John Leguizamo is giving President Donald Trump's administration a piece of his mind.
The Colombia-born actor dropped by 'The View' on Friday to promote his new film 'Bob Trevino Likes It,' but kicked things off by slamming Trump for abolishing federal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that aimed to give marginalized communities a chance.
'It's terrible,' said Leguizamo after 'View' co-host Joy Behar broached the subject.
'I mean, they're removing plaques of Black and Latino and women heroes — what kind of action is that?' he continued. 'It's like a white-only club. DEI was supposed to be to help give us equity for Black and Latinos because we've been here for 500 years, 400 years.'
The Pentagon has removed thousands of website pages honoring the history of people of color, women and members of the LGBTQ community and their military contributions, which even included baseball icon and U.S. Army veteran Jackie Robinson.
While some of these pages were restored, including the 'Sports Heroes Who Served' tribute that featured Robinson, an appeals court ruled in favor last week of Trump's executive orders seeking to end government support for DEI efforts.
Trump called DEI efforts 'immoral discrimination programs' in January; Leguizamo argued Friday these initiatives were warranted due injustices of the past and cited some examples of systemic racism and oppression to make his case.
'There was segregation, lynching, redlining; we were experimented on, we were kept from jobs, from going to the best places, churches, parks,' he said. 'This was to undo 500 years of being oppressed … to give us a chance to get to the same level as everybody else.'
'I think Americans do want inclusion,' he added. 'I think Americans do want diversity. They grew up with Latino, Black people, Asian, and they know that we have value. They're neighbors; they're in love with us, you know? We're lovely people — we're very sexy.'
Despite succumbing to his instincts as a standup comedian and wisecracking, Leguizamo isn't taking Trump's crackdown as a joke. He said the president 'has to demonize DEI' because 'some white people don't want' diversity out of fear of being surpassed.
'They have to make us feel like we're getting a leg up and we don't deserve it, but all the Black and Latin people that I know who are in positions of power have to be five times better than their white brothers and sisters.'
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