WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:03.760 I was convinced I was going to be a famous 2 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:08.520 singer actress. I started writing songs and my parents said, 3 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:11.520 what the hell is that? So I went to school 4 00:00:12.200 --> 00:00:14.640 and I studied and became a lawyer. And I never 5 00:00:14.680 --> 00:00:17.880 did I think that I was going to become famous 6 00:00:17.880 --> 00:00:20.360 because of lawyering, But there it happened. 7 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:27.880 Bettino from Futuro Media, It's Latino Usa. 8 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:32.280 I'm Maria jo Josa Today Lado Tora Ara Maria Polo 9 00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:34.400 the host of the long running court. 10 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:36.000 TV show Caso Serraro. 11 00:00:36.400 --> 00:00:41.240 She talks about trauma, intimacy, queer rights, and her eluciones. 12 00:00:43.360 --> 00:00:47.800 Like her TV personality, Dottra Ara Maria Polo's birth year 13 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:51.880 was dramatic. She was born in Havana, Cuba, in nineteen 14 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:55.240 fifty nine, just a few months after a scruffy Fidel 15 00:00:55.360 --> 00:01:05.600 Castro and his compagnio's tople dictator Fulhencio Battista get. 16 00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:11.520 I say it, Kaci I s Marcololo's. 17 00:01:09.600 --> 00:01:12.720 Family decided to flee Cuba for Miami a couple of 18 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:16.520 years after the Cuban Revolution, and then they migrated to 19 00:01:16.680 --> 00:01:21.200 another Caribbean island, Puerto Rico, where Polo spent her childhood 20 00:01:21.240 --> 00:01:27.640 and teen years. It was there, as a Catholic schoolgirl, 21 00:01:28.080 --> 00:01:32.280 that she discovered two passions that would one day converge 22 00:01:33.520 --> 00:01:38.240 justice and entertainment. Polo wanted to pursue her career in 23 00:01:38.360 --> 00:01:42.320 music and acting, but when her mom said hell no, 24 00:01:42.800 --> 00:01:46.000 she obeyed. Back in Miami, she studied political science and 25 00:01:46.080 --> 00:01:50.480 eventually earned a PhD in law, which means that's right, 26 00:01:50.960 --> 00:01:57.000 she really is Unadopaolo had been practicing family law for 27 00:01:57.080 --> 00:01:59.800 over twenty years in Miami when she was hired to 28 00:01:59.840 --> 00:02:03.639 host a new Spanish language court TV show called Sala 29 00:02:03.800 --> 00:02:07.440 de Parejas. It premiered on Telemundo in two thousand and 30 00:02:07.440 --> 00:02:12.320 one and was eventually rebranded after her best known phrase. 31 00:02:14.040 --> 00:02:18.880 The show wasn't limited to just couple's disputes. Instead, Gaso 32 00:02:18.919 --> 00:02:24.920 Serraro brought on cases about everything in daytime court TV shows, like, 33 00:02:25.040 --> 00:02:33.440 for example, Incesse Exploitation, Worn Immigration, Sketchy Beauty, Spas, buenotu Sas. 34 00:02:33.880 --> 00:02:36.520 She also got to show off her musical talents by 35 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:44.760 composing and singing the theme song to her TV Showile Galazation. 36 00:02:45.560 --> 00:02:46.080 Lenda. 37 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:51.280 Gaso Serrado often aired for multiple hours a day on 38 00:02:51.440 --> 00:02:55.639 Telemundo and was nominated for a daytime Emmy. In true 39 00:02:55.720 --> 00:03:01.400 Court TV style, each case goes a little something like this. 40 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:07.639 The plaintiff makes his or her case okay, making. 41 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:14.639 The defendant response. 42 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:17.920 Uh. 43 00:03:19.800 --> 00:03:27.480 Witnesses and experts are brought in, roasts are. 44 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:39.400 Made and eventually makes for decision and that's it. Case closed, 45 00:03:40.680 --> 00:03:47.000 marked by the dramatic pounding of a gattle. We spoke 46 00:03:47.040 --> 00:03:51.520 to about the show's impact on Latino TV and culture. 47 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:56.720 Because the show was huge, we also wanted to look 48 00:03:56.960 --> 00:04:02.400 at many paradoxes, like how it was dismissed as low 49 00:04:02.440 --> 00:04:06.440 culture and yet it was hosted by a highly educated 50 00:04:06.720 --> 00:04:11.080 Latina and how do Dora Polo is a longtime queer 51 00:04:11.160 --> 00:04:15.920 advocate but has kept her own sexuality private until now 52 00:04:17.320 --> 00:04:20.479 becaose to two decades on TV. Do Dora Polo is 53 00:04:20.520 --> 00:04:24.880 a pop culture icon, particularly among millennial and jen Z 54 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:28.280 Latinos and Latinas who grew up watching her with their 55 00:04:28.320 --> 00:04:33.080 parents and Agulitos and abulitas. There's a street in Hyalia, 56 00:04:33.200 --> 00:04:37.880 Florida named after Dot Dora Polo. And don't you try 57 00:04:37.880 --> 00:04:42.120 to suggest to Sam Jahidaze Caso Serrato isn't real. While 58 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:47.320 new episodes haven't been recorded since twenty nineteen. Reruns played 59 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:50.680 daily on Telemuno, and the show has been memorialized through 60 00:04:50.760 --> 00:04:55.360 viral clips and memes on the internet. So here now 61 00:04:55.560 --> 00:05:00.560 my conversation with Lado to a Maria Polo. 62 00:05:02.680 --> 00:05:03.440 What do I call you? 63 00:05:03.480 --> 00:05:10.279 Lot Tora, Ana, Maria, Anna, chica, muhamaa ASERI? 64 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:16.320 You know? Actually does my friends call me Anita? Anita? 65 00:05:16.480 --> 00:05:18.640 But I'm not your friend though, so I'm just like, 66 00:05:18.680 --> 00:05:19.960 thank you for letting me in. 67 00:05:20.360 --> 00:05:23.400 We fight for what we believe, we do what we like. 68 00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:26.719 We're friends, don't you think, dude? 69 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:27.479 I love that? 70 00:05:28.400 --> 00:05:31.920 So Sin Saada, without reading your bio, just when I 71 00:05:31.960 --> 00:05:34.840 would see you, I was like, well, she's Cuban and 72 00:05:34.880 --> 00:05:39.479 she left the island somewhat recently, and that's why she 73 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:45.400 is so adamant about these issues of libertad and equality 74 00:05:45.640 --> 00:05:49.680 and queer rights. And then it's like, actually, no, you 75 00:05:49.760 --> 00:05:53.920 left Cuba when you were two, and to my fascination, 76 00:05:54.640 --> 00:05:57.960 you're basically raised on the island of Puerto Rico. But like, 77 00:05:58.400 --> 00:06:01.440 how do you see yourself as a Cuban who ends 78 00:06:01.480 --> 00:06:04.200 up being essentially displaced at a very young age. 79 00:06:04.760 --> 00:06:07.960 I see myself as a Cuban, but I feel myself 80 00:06:08.040 --> 00:06:13.280 very American. I'm a Miami girl. Really, that's how I feel. 81 00:06:13.320 --> 00:06:16.480 A Miami girl. First, I don't remember coming from Cuba. 82 00:06:16.520 --> 00:06:18.000 I was two and a half years old. I have 83 00:06:18.080 --> 00:06:21.240 no memories of that. My fair memories were at four 84 00:06:21.320 --> 00:06:23.760 or five years old, I was already living here in 85 00:06:23.760 --> 00:06:26.279 the United States and my parents said, Okay, we're moving 86 00:06:26.279 --> 00:06:26.880 to Puerto Rico. 87 00:06:27.200 --> 00:06:29.479 Did your parents have any doubts about the United States 88 00:06:29.520 --> 00:06:32.160 or was it really like no, is this sit Baistrosuenos 89 00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:33.640 or No? 90 00:06:33.760 --> 00:06:36.039 They didn't. They had no doubts about this country. My 91 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:40.360 parents loved Cuba, okay, But I realized as I grew 92 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:45.960 up that they were harboring a deep depression in sadness 93 00:06:46.680 --> 00:06:50.240 for what had happened to them. I mean, they were 94 00:06:50.640 --> 00:06:54.720 the post of all the possessions, of all their memories, 95 00:06:55.440 --> 00:06:59.640 in the prime of their lives. They were in their thirties, 96 00:06:59.760 --> 00:07:05.520 they were doing well. They had dreams of Cuba. Cuba 97 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:09.880 was a wonderful country prior to nineteen fifty nine, you know, 98 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:13.240 a country that really was doing so well visa visa 99 00:07:13.280 --> 00:07:15.080 the rest of the countries in the world. It is 100 00:07:15.120 --> 00:07:19.040 a growing, modern city with its constant activity. It looks 101 00:07:19.080 --> 00:07:20.440 like any busy. 102 00:07:20.200 --> 00:07:24.880 American stream except for that wonderful custom of Cista when 103 00:07:24.920 --> 00:07:25.680 everything is and. 104 00:07:25.640 --> 00:07:28.360 They never really talked to us very much about Cuba. 105 00:07:28.960 --> 00:07:33.120 They kept it silent and they would really focus everything towards. 106 00:07:33.640 --> 00:07:36.600 This is the States. You can do anything you want here, 107 00:07:36.720 --> 00:07:40.320 you can become anybody you want. You can and me 108 00:07:40.400 --> 00:07:45.000 being a nasty kid archripy president, I wasn't born here. 109 00:07:46.400 --> 00:07:49.200 Wait a second, you actually were like, I want to 110 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:49.800 be president. 111 00:07:50.640 --> 00:07:54.200 I'm a political science major. My bachelor's is in political science. 112 00:07:54.440 --> 00:07:56.400 Yeah, but I'm talking about when you were a little girl. 113 00:07:56.440 --> 00:07:58.000 You were like, Mommy, I would have liked to have 114 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:02.200 been president, but I wasn't born here, Grusola. 115 00:08:01.840 --> 00:08:03.840 Because I'm I was that kind of a kid. I 116 00:08:03.840 --> 00:08:05.960 would like to read things and then just throw it 117 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:08.119 in my parents' face so that they knew I knew. 118 00:08:09.960 --> 00:08:10.200 Yeah. 119 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:13.360 But you know, being a woman, a female president, having 120 00:08:13.400 --> 00:08:15.440 that concept is pretty deep. 121 00:08:15.960 --> 00:08:20.400 Well. I was discriminated for being Latina, for being a woman, 122 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:25.960 for being short, for being Wokona, for a lot of reasons. 123 00:08:26.200 --> 00:08:28.480 But my parents never paid much attention to that. They 124 00:08:28.480 --> 00:08:32.040 wouldn't label things. They said that, so well, find a 125 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:34.800 way of getting around it. You'll find a way do it. 126 00:08:35.440 --> 00:08:36.280 There's always a way. 127 00:08:37.160 --> 00:08:41.160 Interestingly, Anita, you've talked about just now your parents. You 128 00:08:41.400 --> 00:08:43.600 were the one that kind of went there in the 129 00:08:43.640 --> 00:08:48.640 sense of hitting on trauma like straight up and describing 130 00:08:48.640 --> 00:08:51.960 what that trauma looks like. And for me as a 131 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:54.680 young journalist, it was when I went to cover the 132 00:08:54.720 --> 00:08:56.080 story of Elian Gonzalez. 133 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:59.720 Old Elian Gonzalez has now been removed from his home. 134 00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:02.560 He was staying with his Miami relatives. He was seized 135 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:05.920 before dawn this morning by federal marshals who are armed 136 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:07.160 not only with automatic webs. 137 00:09:07.160 --> 00:09:12.920 I understood the reality that many Cubans were and are 138 00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:16.240 still in the deep throes of PTSD. So can you 139 00:09:16.280 --> 00:09:20.360 talk a little bit about having a sense of trauma 140 00:09:20.800 --> 00:09:24.120 or understanding it even through your parents at a pretty 141 00:09:24.160 --> 00:09:24.760 young age. 142 00:09:24.840 --> 00:09:27.360 I believe that Cubans, really, most of them are the 143 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:31.440 one who understand their reality have PTSD, I have. I 144 00:09:31.480 --> 00:09:36.000 have no doubt about that. Andez incident to me is 145 00:09:36.640 --> 00:09:38.760 the clear one, clearest one. 146 00:09:39.080 --> 00:09:39.400 I think. 147 00:09:39.480 --> 00:09:42.200 Yeah, I think every Cuban lives with a little of 148 00:09:42.280 --> 00:09:46.640 PTSD and we all live with that desire that one 149 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:50.319 day it will be free again. It will be a free. 150 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:54.160 Country now as I was thinking about that, because you, Anita, 151 00:09:54.200 --> 00:09:56.040 have said that you will not go back. 152 00:09:56.280 --> 00:09:58.319 Unless it's free, unless it's a free. 153 00:09:58.160 --> 00:10:00.880 Country, unless it's free, and you have to kind of 154 00:10:00.920 --> 00:10:03.120 sit with the fact that that means you may never 155 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:05.600 step foot on the island that you were born on. 156 00:10:06.360 --> 00:10:09.880 Maria. There were times while I was growing older, like 157 00:10:09.920 --> 00:10:12.760 in my twenties, I said, well, Cuba's free. In my thirties, 158 00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:16.280 I'll go back, I'll help rebuild. And that went by 159 00:10:16.559 --> 00:10:19.439 and it didn't happen. And then I learned about musicians 160 00:10:19.440 --> 00:10:22.200 in Cuba and Silvio Rori Ga, Pablo. 161 00:10:23.640 --> 00:10:24.640 Romano's game. 162 00:10:26.679 --> 00:10:28.920 I don't know about us. I didn't know about these people. 163 00:10:29.320 --> 00:10:33.160 I didn't my mother would play these singers or anything. 164 00:10:33.880 --> 00:10:36.120 But I learned from other places, and I would listen 165 00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:41.080 to their music and I would admire the lyrics, the melodies. 166 00:10:41.480 --> 00:10:43.640 And then in my forties, I said, well, I'm still 167 00:10:43.679 --> 00:10:48.520 in my forties. If Cuba should be liberated, well you know, okay, 168 00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:51.400 so maybe I'll get involved with the political parties of 169 00:10:51.480 --> 00:10:56.080 the transition to stabilize the government and blah blah blah. 170 00:10:56.120 --> 00:10:59.440 And then the forties went by, and then the fifties 171 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:03.320 came in and I thought, well, you know, maybe i'll 172 00:11:03.400 --> 00:11:07.000 raise some money from the United States to help those 173 00:11:07.160 --> 00:11:10.920 who want to go there and do the best they can. 174 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:16.240 And now I'm in my sixties and I'm thinking, like 175 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:21.560 you do, eto arato Is, I don't think i'll see 176 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:29.080 it in my lifetime. And it's disheartening and it's depressing 177 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:31.960 because I wish I could see where my mother was 178 00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:35.520 born in Binarlea Rio, and where I was born, and 179 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:40.440 my sister and my father and my grandparents. But I 180 00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:43.840 think I won't. Sadly, I think I won't. 181 00:11:51.280 --> 00:11:53.760 So talk to me a little bit about singing and 182 00:11:53.800 --> 00:11:57.280 what it meant for you and why. And I think 183 00:11:57.320 --> 00:11:59.360 you said to your mom, no, I'm going to be 184 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:00.920 this hall. 185 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:05.800 M No, no, no, that's not a career. Then you're 186 00:12:05.800 --> 00:12:09.160 gonna have to sleep with these ugly producers. 187 00:12:08.520 --> 00:12:11.080 And fat She said it like that, straight up. 188 00:12:11.240 --> 00:12:13.800 See made met straight up. My mother was straight up. 189 00:12:14.559 --> 00:12:20.000 She didn't cover anything up. You're not doing that, I'll see, 190 00:12:20.040 --> 00:12:23.439 get buka boutka, you are not doing that at all. 191 00:12:23.520 --> 00:12:25.080 And as a matter of fact, when I graduated from 192 00:12:25.160 --> 00:12:29.160 high school, I had I had some nice offers from 193 00:12:29.520 --> 00:12:33.600 art schools Juilliard University and a school in London for acting. 194 00:12:34.360 --> 00:12:37.079 And my mother said, forget it. You're not leaving the house. 195 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:39.599 You're coming with us to Miami, and you're going to 196 00:12:39.720 --> 00:12:42.720 a local college in Miami. So forget all of that. 197 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:47.000 It's not happening. And you know what I found out 198 00:12:47.080 --> 00:12:49.839 later in life that my mother was a singer as well. 199 00:12:50.800 --> 00:12:53.719 My mother won in Cuba when she was like sixteen, 200 00:12:54.760 --> 00:12:57.920 one of those contests like lavos the boys and all that, 201 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:01.600 and she recorded records in every thing better. She didn't 202 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:04.800 want us to do that. Maybe she had a bad experience. Nevertheless, 203 00:13:05.360 --> 00:13:08.920 when you have it inside, you have it inside. And 204 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:13.199 even studying something else, I would always write songs. At 205 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:15.280 some point I thought, okay, you know, I'll produce my 206 00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:17.640 own record. I'll do whatever I have to do. But 207 00:13:17.800 --> 00:13:20.280 life catch us on. You have to survive and you 208 00:13:20.360 --> 00:13:22.880 have to do what you have to do. I became 209 00:13:22.920 --> 00:13:27.200 a lawyer. I started to practice law. It went well. 210 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:30.560 I was a good lawyer only because I connect with 211 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:34.120 my clients. I did the worst area of the law, 212 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:38.240 which is family law, and they're interminable. Those cases they 213 00:13:38.360 --> 00:13:41.040 never end because people don't want to, you know, they 214 00:13:41.040 --> 00:13:42.800 don't want to give up on their kids or whatever. 215 00:13:42.920 --> 00:13:46.400 Domestic violence, it's just terrible. Until one day, you know, 216 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:50.680 Salabad has happened. A friend of mine had opened up 217 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:53.400 a little restaurant right across the courthouse. She had a 218 00:13:53.400 --> 00:13:56.000 little party. She asked me, I would just sing something 219 00:13:56.040 --> 00:13:58.120 for us and not Well, I was in a good mood. 220 00:13:58.160 --> 00:13:59.800 I picked up the guitar. I sag. 221 00:14:01.320 --> 00:14:03.920 He said, can you say the US? 222 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:08.000 And there was a producer from the company that was 223 00:14:08.040 --> 00:14:11.920 doing Sala de Bardiause, which is the predecessor to Castle SrAl. 224 00:14:12.160 --> 00:14:14.720 And they had a casting that like three hundred lawyers. 225 00:14:15.160 --> 00:14:18.720 They didn't like anybody, and and and I said, well, 226 00:14:18.800 --> 00:14:23.160 you know what, why not? And I went and I 227 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:24.440 did a little audition. 228 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:27.360 Did Judge Judy already exist or did any of those 229 00:14:27.440 --> 00:14:28.440 Judge shows? 230 00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:31.320 You better tell me the truth, because I'm much smarter 231 00:14:31.400 --> 00:14:35.520 than you are. I love the truth. Yes, absolutely, Judge 232 00:14:35.560 --> 00:14:39.200 Judy existed, She's existence forever forever. 233 00:14:42.280 --> 00:14:44.400 But did they say to you, look, basically, you're going 234 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:46.120 to be the Latina Judge Judy or not. 235 00:14:46.440 --> 00:14:49.000 The company was an Argentinian company. I don't think they 236 00:14:49.080 --> 00:14:51.560 knew about Judge Judy. Yeah, no, No, no. 237 00:14:51.760 --> 00:14:52.560 Okay no. 238 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:54.360 So I said, so okay, So why do I have 239 00:14:54.400 --> 00:14:56.000 to do this? And they told me you you're going 240 00:14:56.040 --> 00:14:59.280 to be a mediator. You're the arbiter and you have 241 00:14:59.520 --> 00:15:02.800 the power to decide because people sign a contract saying 242 00:15:03.280 --> 00:15:06.920 that if they cannot reach an agreement, your decision shall 243 00:15:06.960 --> 00:15:09.880 be final. Oh, I said, okay, I do that. That's 244 00:15:09.880 --> 00:15:13.280 pretty good. And I just pop pop bind. They recorded 245 00:15:13.280 --> 00:15:16.080 that thing, they sent it to Telem said, yes, that's 246 00:15:16.280 --> 00:15:22.560 the pitch we want her. That's how it happened the way, 247 00:15:29.200 --> 00:15:31.520 and then eventually it was my idea to change it 248 00:15:31.560 --> 00:15:34.960 to casto, which everybody thought. It was, Oh my god, 249 00:15:35.040 --> 00:15:38.360 so ingenious. All I did was translate what judges would 250 00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:42.400 tell me every time a trial would finish, Miss Polo, 251 00:15:42.560 --> 00:15:46.480 case closed. I've ruled Gay's close, because I will always 252 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:49.360 want to talk after the judge had ruled. So I said, 253 00:15:49.800 --> 00:15:52.920 vii cho boom casoo. What I did is I give 254 00:15:52.920 --> 00:15:56.400 it a little musicality. I put a little music because 255 00:15:56.400 --> 00:15:58.240 I did the gavel in this in the middle of 256 00:15:58.520 --> 00:16:06.520 Edi cho boom, you know. And I it was my idea. 257 00:16:06.560 --> 00:16:09.200 I said to Telemund, listen, why are we doing a 258 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:12.080 show about couples. We're running out of ideas for couples, 259 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:14.520 and we're putting a couple of dogs, now a couple 260 00:16:14.520 --> 00:16:18.120 of cows. Let's turn it into castoo. Everybody in the 261 00:16:18.160 --> 00:16:23.040 street already is talking caso, and we can open up everything. 262 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:25.520 We can talk about immigration, and we can talk about 263 00:16:25.600 --> 00:16:29.280 negligence and accidents, and we can talk about family law 264 00:16:29.920 --> 00:16:35.400 and torts. And it just turned into Casso serra the 265 00:16:35.480 --> 00:16:39.520 way through bigger and I served it, girl, I served it. 266 00:16:44.440 --> 00:16:48.640 Coming up on Latino USA, La reflects on her role 267 00:16:48.680 --> 00:16:51.880 as an entertainer and as a public figure in Spanish 268 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:55.320 language media. While her job was to be judgy, she 269 00:16:55.400 --> 00:16:58.480 tells us why she always tried to strike a balance 270 00:16:58.920 --> 00:16:59.920 even when she fell. 271 00:17:00.120 --> 00:17:02.280 Stop, stay with us, not stay like us. 272 00:17:42.520 --> 00:17:45.360 Hey, we're back, and just a note before we continue. 273 00:17:45.720 --> 00:17:49.880 This part of the conversation contains discussion about sexual abuse. 274 00:17:50.440 --> 00:17:54.280 Let's go back now to my conversation with the host 275 00:17:54.280 --> 00:17:57.080 of the popular court TV show Caso Serrao. 276 00:18:01.520 --> 00:18:02.840 I think I was drawn to the show. 277 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:05.520 Well, okay, the truth is my husband, he's the painter, 278 00:18:05.600 --> 00:18:08.200 heammperees dose Elpinta, and he would always have the TV 279 00:18:08.320 --> 00:18:11.600 in the back, so That's how I started watching Caso 280 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:14.440 because he would watch it because he was watching and 281 00:18:15.359 --> 00:18:18.520 there was definitely it was like, oh, hey, wait is 282 00:18:18.560 --> 00:18:20.679 it because I never watched any of those other shows. 283 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:25.399 I've never watched any Judge show in English period, But 284 00:18:25.680 --> 00:18:28.640 I was watching Casoo and I'd be like, wow, see, 285 00:18:28.680 --> 00:18:32.199 so now she's dealing with this immigration thing. So and 286 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:34.760 now she's dealing with an issue of race. I became 287 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:37.360 really intrigued when I was like, Oh, bit at there. 288 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:45.000 So Anita dot is like a major advocate on LGBTQ issues. 289 00:18:45.160 --> 00:18:49.400 I was like, Oh, becomes even more interesting. So can 290 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:51.680 you tell me a little bit about that part, because 291 00:18:51.720 --> 00:18:55.679 again in Spanish language television being out being gabe. On 292 00:18:55.720 --> 00:18:58.480 the one hand, I think Latin America is incredibly accepting, 293 00:18:59.359 --> 00:19:01.440 and on the other and I think they can also 294 00:19:01.480 --> 00:19:02.199 be very damning. 295 00:19:03.080 --> 00:19:06.480 Well, you know the double morality. We all the Latinos 296 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:11.080 have this double standard of morality. We know that. I 297 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:15.000 think religion has a big part in that. I mean, 298 00:19:15.320 --> 00:19:20.280 religion muddles the issues. That's another issue that I've touched 299 00:19:20.280 --> 00:19:22.920 in Casa Sao very openly. I mean I had some 300 00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:27.040 strong words for the popes and the church in general. 301 00:19:27.600 --> 00:19:29.640 You know how they talk about love and this and that, 302 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:32.640 but this kind of love is bad and that kind 303 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:36.760 of love is bad. To me, love is love. It's 304 00:19:36.840 --> 00:19:43.000 not bad in any sense. And listen, I fully support abortion. Fully. 305 00:19:43.560 --> 00:19:47.320 I truly believe it is better to get an abortion 306 00:19:47.480 --> 00:19:50.120 that to bring a child into this world, to make 307 00:19:50.200 --> 00:19:54.720 him suffer, to be mistreated, abused, end up in a 308 00:19:54.760 --> 00:19:58.160 foster home, and all these horrible stories that we hear, 309 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:01.800 but they didn't want to ever say, well, I ordered 310 00:20:01.840 --> 00:20:04.800 you to get an abortion. So I always had to 311 00:20:05.440 --> 00:20:09.520 go around the bush and see how I would bring 312 00:20:09.560 --> 00:20:18.120 them to their senses. LGBTQF all those letters. I don't 313 00:20:18.119 --> 00:20:21.680 have a boneus discrimination inside of me. I don't and 314 00:20:21.720 --> 00:20:24.639 I never had it. And it's very funny because my 315 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:25.520 parents did. 316 00:20:26.800 --> 00:20:30.640 Against queer people, are against black people, against Jewish people, gay, 317 00:20:30.840 --> 00:20:31.439 gay people. 318 00:20:31.920 --> 00:20:34.199 I mean, it wasn't a constant thing or whatever, but 319 00:20:34.560 --> 00:20:36.760 I would hear them make comments that I thought, but 320 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:40.520 that's not nice. But they're saying it's not nice only 321 00:20:40.560 --> 00:20:44.239 because this person likes somebody of their own sex. I mean, 322 00:20:44.280 --> 00:20:47.480 what's wrong with that? You know? I remember going to 323 00:20:47.600 --> 00:20:51.320 the New York Gay Parade in June twenty fifteen when 324 00:20:51.359 --> 00:20:54.160 the Supreme Court made finally that decision. 325 00:20:54.320 --> 00:20:57.159 The Supreme Court found gay and lesbian Americans have a 326 00:20:57.200 --> 00:20:59.040 constitutional right to marry. 327 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:02.200 We take two long in this country for everything. If 328 00:21:02.200 --> 00:21:05.600 you ask me, it's one of my biggest complaints. But 329 00:21:05.880 --> 00:21:09.399 finally we got that decision, and I was so elated. 330 00:21:09.440 --> 00:21:12.639 I was so happy because prior to that, I have 331 00:21:12.760 --> 00:21:16.880 been defending gay rights for years and years and years, 332 00:21:17.680 --> 00:21:20.920 and finally here was my vindication. You know, the law 333 00:21:20.960 --> 00:21:22.879 of the land, the Supreme Court. 334 00:21:23.440 --> 00:21:25.840 It does Papasca sipt that on when when you came out, 335 00:21:26.000 --> 00:21:27.359 were they like Simi Hita. 336 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:33.120 I never said anything to anybody, and I don't talk 337 00:21:33.119 --> 00:21:38.600 about my sexuality because first, if you've seen Castosrala long enough, 338 00:21:38.640 --> 00:21:41.720 you were going to understand that. I think everybody's bisexual. 339 00:21:42.359 --> 00:21:45.640 I think we were all born bi sexual, and that 340 00:21:45.720 --> 00:21:53.720 we eventually as we grow up, we have inclinations, orientations, 341 00:21:53.080 --> 00:21:58.359 and we then lived them. I think that I am 342 00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:05.679 truly bisexual. Truly, I can absolutely fall in love with 343 00:22:05.880 --> 00:22:08.280 anybody from both sexes. 344 00:22:09.040 --> 00:22:11.200 So I'm going to ask you a difficult question, Anita, 345 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:13.439 but I think it poses for me the paradox that 346 00:22:13.480 --> 00:22:18.840 I began to feel about Casoo, which is like, wait 347 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:25.960 a second, Dot is so smart, so astute, non discriminatory, 348 00:22:26.119 --> 00:22:31.679 so open and accepting of everyone. But there was something 349 00:22:31.680 --> 00:22:36.040 that then became very performative, became very over the top. 350 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:41.919 It was weird sister Aravianraro for a hand bro the 351 00:22:41.960 --> 00:22:48.280 woman who could not stop twerking, the man who was 352 00:22:48.800 --> 00:22:50.679 impaled by his girlfriend. 353 00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:57.480 I mean, it was just some. 354 00:22:57.480 --> 00:23:01.639 Crazy, crazy stuff. And that's where I started to be like, 355 00:23:01.760 --> 00:23:03.120 what's going. 356 00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:08.480 On, Maria. We've gone through twenty years of a daily show. 357 00:23:09.160 --> 00:23:12.000 I would do sometimes three hundred and twenty five episodes 358 00:23:12.040 --> 00:23:16.359 of Castos Ral for Telemundo on a yearly basis. We 359 00:23:16.440 --> 00:23:20.560 would study ratings and we would figure out what is 360 00:23:20.640 --> 00:23:25.720 it that people really want to see? Iljantes on mor Bosa, 361 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:26.960 we love it. 362 00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:29.639 No, maybe you guys think get those things were the 363 00:23:29.640 --> 00:23:31.399 ones that were getting the top ratings. 364 00:23:31.520 --> 00:23:34.560 They were getting the top ratings. Anything that had to 365 00:23:34.560 --> 00:23:41.560 do with violence, sex, deceiving, infidelities, weirdness with the internet, 366 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:47.679 weirdness with tattoos and body modifications, and anything that was 367 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:52.399 weird would get the top ratings. So we had to 368 00:23:52.480 --> 00:23:54.640 divide things and we had to say Okay, you got 369 00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:58.639 to bring a serious case and sentimental case, and you 370 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:02.400 got to bring three weird cases or four weird cases 371 00:24:03.080 --> 00:24:06.919 because that's what was selling. But I hope that you 372 00:24:07.080 --> 00:24:10.919 saw that in even the weirdest of shows, I was 373 00:24:10.960 --> 00:24:14.520 trying to be the voice of something that would transcend, 374 00:24:14.800 --> 00:24:19.159 that would give a little more than just the scandalous. 375 00:24:19.640 --> 00:24:22.680 I mean, it wasn't Jerry Springer. There was a part 376 00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:25.840 of me that saw that you were also struggling. And 377 00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:28.359 that's where I'm trying to understand that part of you. 378 00:24:28.760 --> 00:24:31.440 Believe me, there were many times that I had to struggle, 379 00:24:31.800 --> 00:24:34.960 and there were many days where I would scream off 380 00:24:35.000 --> 00:24:38.320 the top of my lungs because I didn't want that, 381 00:24:38.560 --> 00:24:41.120 and I would you know, I would get the people 382 00:24:41.160 --> 00:24:45.080 ida saying, hey, but this is what self, So we 383 00:24:45.240 --> 00:24:49.160 got to do it. It's what self. So I said, well, 384 00:24:49.160 --> 00:24:50.800 you know what, I have to do the best I 385 00:24:50.880 --> 00:24:54.360 can with this. And then we got more serious at times, 386 00:24:54.840 --> 00:24:57.800 and we did more serious cases, and we dealt with 387 00:24:57.840 --> 00:25:03.000 more political issues and issues of human value and human justice. 388 00:25:03.080 --> 00:25:07.439 And the ratings weren't us good, but they had to 389 00:25:07.520 --> 00:25:12.280 accommodate also what I wanted to bring out the balance. 390 00:25:12.920 --> 00:25:14.720 You know, I needed some balance. 391 00:25:15.480 --> 00:25:19.919 So you, like me, actually have I think a deep 392 00:25:20.320 --> 00:25:24.440 love of humanity. Like while we're really capable of incredible things, 393 00:25:24.520 --> 00:25:29.000 incredible love, sadly incredible hate. But when you're saying about 394 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:31.439 the studies that you were doing as a producer to 395 00:25:31.680 --> 00:25:34.520 see minute by minute ratings and what people and you're like, 396 00:25:34.760 --> 00:25:37.760 hint this, Morbosa, then how does that leave us in 397 00:25:37.840 --> 00:25:40.560 terms of wait, but we love humanity and we want 398 00:25:40.600 --> 00:25:42.280 to do the best. But it's like, wait a second, 399 00:25:42.320 --> 00:25:46.720 but y'all are showing us that you you'll go to 400 00:25:46.840 --> 00:25:48.680 the lowest common denominator. 401 00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:51.800