Instagram/@ananavarrofl
Political analyst Ana Navarro-Cárdenas began Hispanic Heritage Month by honoring Cris Abrego, whose story goes from El Monte, California, to becoming one of the most powerful media personalities in Hollywood and now the President of the Television Academy. Navarro put the celebration into a frame of community resilience, stating that Hispanic Americans are “being hunted down and under attack,” thus making the recognition of their contributions “that much more important.” She told the story of Abrego, from doing the lowliest grunt work on production sets in an effort to put himself up to founding his own production company and selling it, to taking that forward into and presently co-owning the Hyphenate Media Group with Eva Longoria.
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Posted on the first day of the month-long observation, it erupted with responses ranging from triumphant pride to merciless political criticism. Navarro’s characterization of the Hispanic community as under attack has indeed proved divisive and became a lightning rod for contentious debates in the comments.
Many users expressed their high esteem for and personal connections to Abrego’s story. Several El Monte denizens expressed pride of being an El Montean: “This makes me proud. He grew up in my home town ‘el Monte’ – bravo Chris,” while another one simply exclaimed, “Bravo Cris! Keep making us proud here in El Monte!” Mutual pride in shared hometown identity thus was an ongoing and uplifted refrain for supporters.
That celebratory feeling was taken up by other celebrities. Emilio Estefan Jr., singer, declared, “Sooo proud of him,” and chef Claudia Sandoval said, “👏👏👏👏👏 tears hearing this powerful statement.” Another comment celebrated that “we will continue to take up space and create stories for our people no matter what!!! Diversity is important in Hollywood. Latina and Proud.”
Navarro’s political frame, however, prepared the ground for a stiff backlash from people who recoiled at “hunted down.” The comment section became a battleground on immigration policy, with many users aggressively attacking her viewpoint. One went, “They are ‘hunting down’ illegals. If you’re illegal you’re gone!!! Period!!!!” Another was almost identical, “Hunted down?? Since when r illegal aliens our community!?”
The criticism gave way quickly to personal attacks. “Disgusting vile p i g,” muttered one. Another said, “Blood on your hands fatso.” The harshest one was written in Spanish, branding her as a “leftist socialist parasite” and a “promoter of hate.”
Others in the comment slowly tried to turn the discussion away from Hispanic heritage by attacking Navarro for not talking about other recent news. “Nothing to say about Charlie or the Ukrainian girl that was killed, of course not,” one user said, thus launching a small sub-thread about Navarro’s priorities.
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Even amidst the fiercely fought political battles, the purpose behind the post—to celebrate Cris Abrego’s achievements—struck a real chord with the greater part of the crowd. His narrative of growing up as a TV-obsessed kid with no onscreen representation to one who had scaled heights as an executive opening doors for other Latinos made for the month’s celebrations’ most powerful narrative. The polarized response further underscores how cultural celebrations are too often linked with contemporary political debate, especially for a figure such as Navarro, who operates at their intersection. The discourse ended up reflecting both deeply felt community pride and the totally polarized national debate on immigration. This post also highlighted her favorite topics beyond politics. The announcement was made on The View’s new Miami broadcast channel, and many saw it as Nobel Peace Prize level trolling of her critics.