My position on Rick Sanchez hasn’t changed since he was fired from CNN last fall. I didn’t have an opinion on Sanchez then, I don’t have an opinion on Sanchez now. It is fascinating to watch how his comments, his firing from CNN and it’s aftermath are still being covered in the media though.

This morning, I came across an interview with the Cuban journalist on Daily Beast. It is not a site I visit regularly, but it caught my eye, especially it’s framing as the “first major interview since being fired”. What also caught my eye was it’s framing as Sanchez as a Latino stereotype.

Again I have no interest one way or the other in Sanchez’s career. My mom was a fan and was particularly excited when he heard he used Twitter like her older daughter. But throughout the interview, Adam Hanft seems to focus on Sanchez as too sensitive, too hung up on his background as a Cubano who grew up poor. Sanchez is portrayed as not careful enough with his words and a loose canon. In other words Sanchez is given the role that many media makers of color are given, troublesome and with a chip on their shoulder.

Here are some excerpts:

Rick Sanchez’s parents didn’t speak any English, but he makes up for it. His words come in a torrent, an id-gush; I imagine his superego watching with its usual resignation from the balcony…

Sanchez is easily bruised. He speaks about the wounds of growing up poor, how they mark him as a perennial outsider—at least in his own psyche…

Throughout the interview Sanchez is accused of being obsessive and called “thin-skinned”.

No se, read it yourself if you are at all interested in how mainstream media deal with people of color who have fallen out of grace if you will. As a Latina whose own image and identity has been assaulted via the mainstream media, the lesson is always be on guard. But how do you balance that with being real?