Actors and other performers — Latino or not — are shutting up about the immigration issue. AP reports on how, with a few rare exceptions (George Lopez, EJ Olmos, and Eva Longoria), Hollywood is keeping its trap shut with regard to this hot button issue for fear of “career suicide”:

Fear of career damage, confusion over a complex issue abruptly supercharged by waves of nationwide protests, and historic detachment from Hispanic realities are among the explanations offered by industry insiders and observers.

Not that the movement has needed famous standard bearers – it has been notable for its bottom-up genesis that has left it without recognizable leaders.

No “recognizable leaders” have emerged from the Hollywood scene…hmm…Even though Latinos are hot in Hollywood now, why would a JLo or a Jessica Alba want to dirty their careers or compromise their position with mainstream America? It’s just too dangerous.

AP points out that the normally very vocal immigrant rights proponent Martin Sheen has even been silent lately. NCLR isn’t surprised:

One person unsurprised by the white-dominated industry’s inability to connect with the issue is Lisa Navarette, spokeswoman for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic civil rights organization.

Stars jump into debates over global warming and the Iraq war because their friends and peers are talking those subjects up, Navarette said. Most in the industry don’t deal with Hispanics beyond their presence as domestic help.

“You drive by your gardener, you walk by your maid, but you’re not necessarily connected to them in any way,” she said.

Paging….Kanye West maybe?

Via / TimesLeader.com