The highly anticipated film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical In The Heights debuted last weekend, and since then, the film has been plagued by criticism over its lack of dark-skinned Afro-Latinx actors in any of the lead roles. Now Miranda has responded, offering a public apology for the movie’s colorism and promising to do better.
“I’m seeing the discussion around Afro-Latinx representation in our film this weekend and it is clear that many in our dark-skinned Afro-Latinx community don’t feel sufficiently represented within it, particularly among the leading roles,” Miranda wrote in a message he posted to social media. “I can hear the hurt and frustration over colorism, of feeling still unseen in the feedback. I hear that without sufficient dark-skinned Afro-Latinx representation, the work feels extractive of the community we wanted so much to represent with pride and joy. In trying to paint a mosaic of this community, we fell short. I’m truly sorry.”
“Thanks for your honest feedback,” he concluded. “I promise to do better in my future projects, and I’m dedicated to the learning and evolving we all have to do to make sure we are honoring our diverse and vibrant community.”
Miranda’s comments come after director Jon M. Chu also addressed the issue over the weekend, responding to The Root. “I hear you on trying to fill those cast members with darker skin,” Chu said. “I think that’s a really good conversation to have and something we should all be talking about.”
“Listen, we’re not gonna get everything right in a movie, we tried our best on all fronts of it,” the director continued. “I do think there’s something to be said about sharing in experiences and me never wanting to say I know what I’m doing but to just give room to everybody to speak up about what we’re doing at that moment.”
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