Another Slur From Hollywood

Was this simply an "insensitive" comment? I would have used stronger adjectives. What Penn said was -- at very least -- xenophobic, condescending and inappropriate.

Especially in front of tens of millions of viewers worldwide. Your mother warned you to be careful what you say in mixed company. A global audience is as "mixed" as it gets.

Hollywood liberals spend so much time trying to become better people by taking up pet causes when, through leaked emails and embarrassing utterances, we now see that what many of them really need is better social skills.

At least this kerfuffle clears the air. I could write 100 columns explaining how liberals are often as racist as conservatives. But Penn illustrates the point very well.

So what if the target of the remark claims that he was not offended? When has that fact ever mattered when we're calling out inappropriate behavior? Inarritu has the ability to tell stories, but he doesn't have the power to excuse this kind of slight on behalf of 120 million Mexicans in his home country, or 30 million or so Mexican-Americans in this one.

Meanwhile, Penn has directed a handful of films. He didn't win Oscars for any of them. Maybe he's jealous of the Mexican-born director and screenwriter and the green-card joke was a sophomoric way of putting a "friend" in his place. It's hard to imagine that Penn would have made such a remark about a white director, even one whose immigration status was in question.

We should be grateful that Penn didn't try to hire Inarritu to landscape his yard. Now, that would have been awkward.

During his acceptance speech, Inarritu tried to brush off the insult and wound up swerving into territory that is full of them: the immigration debate.

"I want to dedicate this award for my fellow Mexicans, the ones who live in Mexico," Inarritu said. "I pray that we can find and build the government that we deserve. And the ones that live in this country, who are part of the latest generation of immigrants in this country, I just pray that they can be treated with the same dignity and respect of the ones who came before and built this incredible immigrant nation."

Good luck with that, amigo. The first step is to choose better friends.

Inarritu has lived in the United States for less than 20 years. In time he'll learn not to believe what is in the brochure about this being a "nation of immigrants." Hopefully, he'll also learn that it's not acceptable to excuse a bigoted remark in a clubhouse just because you're a member of the club.

For the time being, here's a tip for folks on both sides of the border: If you're Mexican and talented, and you want to be treated with respect and dignity, steer clear of Hollywood.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com.