5 Latino Stars Who Don’t Identify as Latino

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Mitt Romney

During a mostly awkward interview with Univision anchor Jorge Ramos last year, presidential candidate Mitt Romney was asked about the fact that his father (George Romney) was born in Mexico. “So the question is: “Are you Mexican American?” asked Ramos, adding, “Could you be the first Hispanic president?” Mitt, who had by then earned the nickname “Mexican Mitt,” replied, “I would love to be able to convince people of that, particularly in a Florida primary,” he said with a laugh. “But I think that might be disingenuous on my part, because in my case my dad was born in Mexico and I’m proud of the, uh…my heritage, but he was born of U.S. citizens who were living in Mexico at the time and was not Hispanic.” Still, Ramos pressed the former Governor of Massachusetts on the question, asking, “So you wouldn’t call yourself Mexican-American, even though he’s Mexican by definition? I just read the Mexican constitution and he is,” Ramos added. But once again Romney refused to call himself Mexican. “I don’t think people would think I was being honest with them if I said I was Mexican-American,” he said, adding another joke: “But I would appreciate it if you would get that word out,” {Laughs}. In the end, a lot of folks said Mitt lost the election because he failed to get the “Latino” vote. Go figure!