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Salma Hayek apologizes to fans after controversial post

The A-lister thanked her fans for calling her out on social media


Robert Peterpaul
Weekend Editor
JANUARY 25, 2020 10:00 AM EST

It takes guts to admit when you’re wrong, but  Salma Hayek  is gutsy. The 53-year-old actress apologized to her fans after she promoted the controversial book American Dirt on social media. “Yesterday, I posted a message about a book which I removed from my Instagram,” she wrote on Friday, January 24. “I want to say to all of you that I got very excited when  Oprah  shared with me her pick for her book club because in the description of the book I learned that it was the story of a Mexican woman, so I rushed into sharing my excitement with you.”

oprah's book club© @oprah
Oprah chose <i>American Dirt</i> as her book club pick

“I confess, I have not read it and was not aware of any kind of controversy,” the Mexican-American admitted. “I thank all of you who caught me in the act of not doing my research, and for setting me straight, because that means you know me and gave me the benefit of the doubt; and I apologize for shouting out something without experiencing it or doing research on it.”

salma hayek apologizes to fans© @salmahayek
Salma Hayek’s full apology to fans

Instead of simply deleting the post, Salma took the admirable route of addressing her blunder. Originally, she had shared a photo of herself holding the book with the caption: “Now more than ever we need stories of hope & encouragement, endurance & the beauty of the human spirit. I can’t thank @Oprah enough for sending me #AmericanDirt. I continue to be in awe of her commitment to giving a voice to the voiceless & for loving harder in response to hate.”

The Frida star wasn’t the only Latinx celeb to spread the word about Jeanine Cummins’ polarizing novel.  Gina Rodriguez ,  Yalitza Aparicio  and Mj Rodriguez all publicly showed support, though MJ was the only one who didn’t backtrack. The book fires up a debate about fiction authors and who has the right to pen specific stories.