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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.”
“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.”
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.