Selena Gomez Finds Her Spine, Pushes Back Against Online Criticism

Yesterday, Selena Gomez posted a tearful message on Instagram about ICE deporting Mexican immigrants. She quickly deleted it after facing criticism from conservative commentators.

In the original IG Story, the singer/actress said:

I just wanted to say that I’m so sorry,” a crying Gomez said in a video on her Instagram Story Monday. “All my people are getting attacked, the children. I don’t understand. I’m so sorry. I wish I could do something, but I can’t. I don’t know what to do. I’ll try everything, I promise.

After completely reasonable, super-mature people like Tomi Lahren insulted her, she replaced the video with a post saying, “Apparently, it’s not ok to show empathy for people.” She deleted that, too.

I’m sympathetic to Selena’s messy history with social media. But back in October, she told Variety she “definitely wants to stand by [her] people” in response to racist remarks about Puerto Rico made at a Trump rally in NYC. Now is the time to stop equivocating, leave these posts up, and push back against people like Lahren, who is, let’s be honest, the true moron in this and every situation.

As part of yesterday’s backlash, Republican Sam Parker, who failed in a 2018 Senate run in Utah, called for Gomez’s deportation on Twitter.

It shouldn’t need to be said, but Selena Gomez is an American citizen, born to American parents in 1992. Her family’s immigration story was featured in the 2019 Netflix documentary Living Undocumented, which she executive produced.

In response to Parker’s racist nonsense, Selena returned to Instagram and posted a Story that’s still up!

For the record: an American citizen expressed empathy and solidarity with a group of people targeted by the government. The right’s response? Mocking her for showing “the sin of empathy.”

This behavior is standard for this administration’s supporters. What we need are voices like Selena’s—people with visibility, empathy, and personal stakes—to speak out boldly and refuse to back down in the face of juvenile online attacks. Approximately 42% of U.S. Latinos voted for Trump last year. Those voters need to hear from members of their communities about the impact of these policies. The people being deported need to know they are not invisible.

ICE was in Puerto Rico yesterday deporting Dominicans, which is wild because Trump likely didn’t know Puerto Rico was part of the United States until he threw paper towels at them.

Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco have a chance to spark a movement here. Maybe call Bad Bunny or John Leguizamo—he’s never shy about speaking his mind. Make noise. Organize. The Latino vote in America is diverse, but it could be a powerful force. Selena was right in her original video—this is a terrible situation. She should stop being afraid to say it.