The Estefans on colorism within the Latinx community and breaking stereotypes ahead of the Red Table Talk Premiere

This week as Latinx & Hispanic Heritage Month continues, Grammy-winning Latin music trailblazer Gloria Estefan, her daughter Emily Estefan, and her niece Lili Estefan return for a new season of Facebook Watch’s Daytime Emmy- and GLAAD Media Awards-nominated series Red Table Talk: The Estefans. Over Season 2’s dozen weekly new episodes, the three generations of women will tackle important topics inclusing plastic surgery, online bullying, the Surfside condominium collapse, and child abuse. And as the Estefans preview the series during a sit-down interview with Yahoo Entertainment & Life, Emily mentions one Red Table Talk discussion she’s especially looking forward to.

Watch the video above to hear more and catch the new season of Red Table Talk: The Estefans on Facebook Watch, starting September 30th.

Video Transcript

GLORIA ESTEFAN: OK, people, we need to talk.

EMILY ESTEFAN: Oh, we're good at that.

LILI ESTEFAN: [NON ENGLISH SPEECH]

LYNDSEY PARKER: Very excited about the new season of "Red Table Talk" that you guys have coming up on the 30th. And I'm wondering what topics facing the Latinx community today, that you dive into here and why it was important to you guys to focus on these topics in 2021.

EMILY ESTEFAN: One thing I'm really proud and excited about is we're bringing up and opening the door to the conversation of colorism and racism within the Latinx community. You know, families that have siblings ranging in skin tones and colors, some identifying as Afro-Latino, some not, and just this duality within the community of these things that we're facing they're difficult to talk about.

GLORIA ESTEFAN: Yeah, that aren't talked about.

EMILY ESTEFAN: Right. People are saying, [NON ENGLISH SPEECH] which is a terrible expression implying that if your skin is lighter, you're making your culture better, or something like that. And this is something that has been said for years in families and some people don't even think to say something because they don't realize.

So, as three Latina white women, we don't encounter a lot of the struggles that our Afro-Latino brothers and sisters do and it's really important. And I feel privileged to be able to use our platform to highlight conversations like that.

LYNDSEY PARKER: Your experience personally, I wonder as three women in the public eye, in show business, in entertainment for years, have you experienced it on the other side of sort of being accused that you had a leg up in the industry because of your skin color, how you present, I mean, have you experienced that?

EMILY ESTEFAN: I think we do and that's part of the reason why we need to have this conversation. Because, yes, we're Latina, and I speak for myself, I won't speak for you guys because they've been around a lot longer, hashtag, old. But anyway.

GLORIA ESTEFAN: Very funny.

EMILY ESTEFAN: Wise, wise is what I should say, time is a constraint, but anyway. So, I think that we do walk around with these privileges and that is why it's even more important to use our voice to speak about it. Because Latino's one thing but if we walk around and we don't speak Spanish, they might not treat us like they would somebody else, you know what I mean? So that's why.

And there are moments as well where we've had moments of people, not calling us out but just educating us on the reality of certain experiences. And this was one of those episodes that I hope and I hope people will see and feel that bridge being built, you know what I mean? Within the community so we can talk about it more and support each other.

GLORIA ESTEFAN: Yeah. And one of the things that really sparked my interest, even more so in tackling this topic at the table this time, was when the controversy started coming out surrounding "In The Heights" that one of the people that started that conversation online their line was, we're not all Gloria Estefan. And like they pulled out, they literally called me out because I'm lighter skinned like.

LYNDSEY PARKER: How did that make you feel? Did that bring up any criticism or feelings you maybe had throughout your career? Because that's kind of a harsh thing for someone to say.

GLORIA ESTEFAN: Yeah but I understood it, completely, I understood it because I am a very well-known Latina and I look a certain way. My skin is white, although to a lot of people, they might assume that I'm not white because I'm Latina. So it may have nothing to do with your genetics, the bottom line is labeling and putting people in boxes.

When I read that, OK, even though I go, hey, I'm just as Latina as anybody else but I understood where that was coming from. Because when you're looking at an image, you're not hearing anything being said or you're looking at an image, that's a visual image, has an impact.

EMILY ESTEFAN: Or also a little Black Latina girl isn't going to see herself necessarily represented in you.

GLORIA ESTEFAN: Oh, by the way, we had this conversation at the time [INTERPOSING VOICES]

LILI ESTEFAN: Oh yeah, I mean.

GLORIA ESTEFAN: And we literally talk about that.

EMILY ESTEFAN: And there was a moment there which is like look, for most people, a Latina woman is Lili Estefan, Gloria Estefan but that's not-- I mean, yes, they are Latina women but Latina women are all sorts of colors and shapes and sizes and hair textures and, you know what I'm saying?

GLORIA ESTEFAN: And shades and accents and different for music and different food. Because especially now for Hispanic Heritage Month, I think it's important not just to celebrate our sameness that we're all Latinos but for us to celebrate the beautiful cultural tapestry that we bring to this country.

Whether it be West Coast, Mexican, to East Coast over here, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, and everything in between. We have a lot to offer in many different ways. And we have to celebrate those beautiful differences as well.

EMILY ESTEFAN: And we can do it all joined like this.

LILI ESTEFAN: And it's called [NON ENGLISH SPEECH]

LYNDSEY PARKER: That's another thing I wanted to bring up just in general when you were talking about how Latina women are not all the same. There is a stereotype that gets painted with a really wide brush that Latina women are spicy, hot, sexy, really sexual, red--

EMILY ESTEFAN: Right, yeah, what's with the red?

LYNDSEY PARKER: --fiery. And maybe some people say that stereotype thinking it's a positive but it's obviously a stereotype. How has that affected your self-image especially as people in the spotlight?

GLORIA ESTEFAN: Well, I've never really thought about making my image in the reflected by stereotypes, I love to break stereotypes. People would tell us, you're too American for the Latins, you're too Latin for the Americans, you're this. We didn't change our name, we didn't-- and by the way, I'd say maybe we are a little fiery, OK, in a good way.

EMILY ESTEFAN: Well, maybe we are but not all Latinos are.

GLORIA ESTEFAN: Cause we're Cubans. Cubans have a fiery personality in general.

EMILY ESTEFAN: I think we might have an extra gene or something stuck in there.

GLORIA ESTEFAN: There's Something weird.

EMILY ESTEFAN: Some extra loudness.

GLORIA ESTEFAN: Yeah, definitely. Oh, you know I got it, we're on an Island, where you have to yell for someone to hear you.

LYNDSEY PARKER: But it seems like a little too dimensional or do you feel pressure, especially Gloria having been in pop music for as long as you have, like to have that kind of overtly sexy image on stage or in music videos or whatever.

GLORIA ESTEFAN: Well, which is why my favorite look was my chops because I was in jeans and leather chaps, that's the Latina in any way, shape, or form.

EMILY ESTEFAN: Cowboy Latina.

GLORIA ESTEFAN: Plain white top, I let my curly hair fly, and that was great, people loved it and whatnot. But music, we were very passionate, at least I am about music and as I let people see more what music made me feel and it just relaxed up there, then people identified with me.

EMILY ESTEFAN: Also, i just sort of say this, I think that it's beautiful for men and women and non-binary people, whoever, to connect and feel sexy, I think that's a beautiful thing. I think that the issue becomes with like the parameters that we think, oh, I have to feel sexy like this, you know what I mean?

So, I think a lot of it also in the Latin world, and this is what we try to do with these conversations, it's like breaking down those stereotypes but then building them back up like, you want to be sexy, be sexy, if you want to get plastic surgery, fine, but do it for the right reasons, love yourself, you know what I mean? It's do what you want, be who you want but for the right reasons. I feel like that's one of our messages today.

LILI ESTEFAN: For me that I've worked in the Hispanic market for so many years, Nancy, like it's already 35 years, I've seen the change. Before I used to be more stereotyped but not now.

EMILY ESTEFAN: Different.

LILI ESTEFAN: We're open, it is totally different. I see the change, even the soap operas, the way that we handle ourselves, like it's gotten much better.

[MUSIC PLAYING]