If you think being rich, famous, and having almost 15 million followers on Instagram protests a person against bigotry in America, think again.
In an Instagram interview with Enrique Santos at La Sopa (The Soup) this week, Ricky Martin was asked about the George Floyd protests. In his response, he shared about his own fears of being targeted by racist police officers and other bigots.
“I am a Latino, gay man, married to an Arab man, living in the United States,” Martin said. “In other words, I am a threat to these people wherever you see them.”
Martin has been married to model Jwan Yosef, who is of Kurdish and Armenian descent, since 2017. The couple has four kids together.
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The singer was careful to note, however, that his wealth and notoriety do provide him with an added layer of security that many people don’t have. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t affected by racism when he leaves the safety of his home.
“Taking the car and crossing the desert and stopping for coffee at dinner can be risky,” he said. “The United States … has always been like this.”
Martin continued by saying that he’s grateful the problem of systemic racism in law enforcement is finally being addressed thanks, in large part, to technology that allows people to witness and “get angry at injustices.”
“Now we have cameras and we see it, now we as citizens turn on the phone, we record the injustice, and that is why we are angry, because now we are seeing it,” he said.
Martin just released his first EP Pausa on May 28. It was originally planned to be a full-length album, but coronavirus caused him to change the concept and he chose to split the album into two EPs. The second one will likely be released later this year.
Related: Fans were “not prepared” for what Ricky Martin showed off on his Insta-story
Hussain-TheCanadian
I feel sad for Rickie, as “powerful” as he is, imagining the connections he must have, I wonder why does he feel so powerless? I feel there are a lot of heartache, confrontations, and possible violence he must have experienced as a result of him coming out.
Love you Rickie, stay strong; wealth and fame are nothing, its just a decoration, what matters is you and your family.
woodroad34
You should watch “The Green Book”. True that it took place in the South during the 60’s…but I really don’t think much has changed since then–they just hide it better, until something like the recent protests happen. In case you’re not familiar with “The Green Book”, it refers to a book that lists places that only cater to black performers, because they couldn’t stay in hotels visited by whites. And even though the musician was a well-known and educated jazz savant, they wouldn’t let him eat with whites or be seen with whites at parties.
Heywood Jablowme
@woodroad: Good movie. The musician was gay, too, as the movie makes clear.
ElPillo
RM lost my admiration as soon as he stopped being genuine. He’s entered the club of showing off himself too much, doing (what appears to me) esoteric spiritual journeys. His bf is as far as Arab looking as they get and he’s hardly ever going to be in a place or position where he is exposed. Paranoia of the very rich?
Hussain-TheCanadian
I have seen the Green Book, amazing movie, extremely sad, and extremely hopeful too. Mahershala Ali was amazing in it, and so was Viggo Mortensen.
I see your point Woodroad, its a good point too, the horrendous “racism with a smile”, racism that oozes of “I like your music but I hate you”, a feeling Rickie must know too well.
lorijknight763
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masterwill7
Thank you Woodroad, I’m going to see that movie!
jaleoman
Ricky Martin is such a genuine nice guy. I love the man and can’t wait to see him in concert next year. Saw him in 2016 and he was amazing. What an incredible show man .
Heywood Jablowme
Maybe sometime, Ricky’s husband will inform him that someone who’s of Kurdish and Armenian descent is not an “Arab”!
cubcmh
I was just going to post a similar comment. Your’s is better.
jayceecook
My knowledge is limited on this subject but his BF was born in Syria and his father is Syrian Kurdish. Wouldn’t that make him an Arab? Isn’t Syria part of the Arab world? Are Syrian Kurds not considered a part of the Semitic people?
It was always my understanding that “Arab” was made up of a mixture of racial, religious, ethnic, national, and cultural identities.
Heywood Jablowme
@jayceecook: Kurds don’t consider themselves Arab. Arabs don’t consider Kurds to be Arab.
Encyclopedia Britannica, Quora and Wikipedia call the Kurds an “Iranian” ethnic (and language) group.
I just think it’s odd that Ricky would refer to his husband as an Arab. It’s a little like marrying a Puerto Rican and calling him a Mexican!
darkanser
I was about to say he should probably refer to his husband as maybe Middle-Eastern — but not necessarily Arab — though he was according to what I’m reading born in Syria. Admittedly, those who would target ANYONE from the Middle East for racist reasons wouldn’t be able to or wouldn’t care to make that distinction. Talk to anyone who’s a Sikh!!!
Hussain-TheCanadian
Rickie’s comment took me by surprise too, Kurds definitely do not call themselves Arabs, or even Iranian for that matter, but I wonder if Jwan considers himself an Arab because his father also considered himself an Arab.
Being an Arab isnt only an ethnicity, its also a culture/language identity too.
batesmotel
I believe he used the word “Arab” to point out that ALL that are of any arab descent are targeted in certain areas of the United States.
enlightenone
Pretty shallow article. Perhaps a confrontation or two or some threat to his life or his husband’s would warrant some empathy. Not!
roddy
I agree with Ricky. That’s why I live in California. While the state has its issues, it not as bad as other parts of the country. It’s the only state, other than Hawaii, I would consider living in. I had short stints in Virginia and DC but always came running back to California. It’s just a personal preference.
nm4047
does that fall into the ‘White Flight’ category, but realise the right wing media portrayal of the Latinos was pure racist propaganda.
ShiningSex
I think Ricky would have been more successful in the English market if he would have been honest about his sexuality when he did Barbara Walters. He said he was gay without saying he was gay. It’s the worst denial or adverting the question ever! He was really humiliated by that interview. People laughed at him because we all knew he was. DUH!!!
Glad to see him defending LGBT rights and the bigotry out there, but it would have had a bigger impact back then.
Troysky
@SS ….tried to look for the interview on youtube…. is it the one title “Ricky em Barbara Walters” (circa 1999?) uploaded to youtube in 2007…..? …curious
batesmotel
At least he’s open about it now.
nm4047
Given the Spanish speaking music buyers are the biggest market in the world. Unless you make it into a niche gay market the only benefit for the English speaking market was the more intense focus and publicity that a Latino does not get in the US, not to say the Latino market in the US isn’t also a major sector of the market, but unless you speak American your career options are limited.
trsxyz
Oh Ricky… those tattoos… enough already!
barryaksarben
OMG so much anger directed at this guy. I am not a huge fan but he seems quite nice and his heart seems to be in the right place. As for calling his boyfriend Arab maybe the boyfriend calls himself an arab or he understands that to most Americans he is ARAB as most AMericans lump Thai, Phillipino, Chinese, Japanese are one big group.Latino is everything from mexican to puerto rican and again to most Americans it includes everyone from South America and Spain and Portugal. STOP the nastiness
The real Bruce
I agree with you 100% Barry.
Heywood Jablowme
Don’t know why you’re interpreting our genuine puzzlement as “anger” and “nastiness.” Ricky wouldn’t like it if someone called him a “Mexican” and then said, oh what difference does it make since Latinos are all “one big group” (as you put it re: East Asians). Ignorance is ignorance.
The real Bruce
I saw the clip of him getting ready to go out. Nice outfit and a couple of seconds to adjust the package (a little teasing fun) and looking good. So why all the fuss? And all the critique about Jwan and his ethnicity serves NO purpose. I guess in these troubled times some people need to vent and be overly bitchy about anything and everything. Jeez people, GET OVER YOURSELVES! I just hope these two and the kids can enjoy their lives in peace. Some of y’all need to take a hard look in the mirror and get humble! Be safe, stay healthy and loving.
frapachino
He has never suffered a minute of racism in his entire life!
Flamingo Falls
How could you possibly know this?
curiobi
Shut up racist troll! Any article about race you come out spouting trash. The world is changing and the days of the blatant racist are numbered. Do something better with your life, how many times do you have to be told you are not welcome?
Cam
No surprise, the troll account that always defends racists pretending racism isn’t real.
southernscot
Have to say in the current climate it annoys me that in the first paragraph of this story there is a typo that mixes up the word Protects with Protests! Queerty have you totally given up on proofreading your content? Yep it’s pedantic but seems like it matters when the mistake is so related to how people are feeling now. For me it feels like Queerty relies to much on spell check and grammar correct to actually check the content makes sense. Yep I am over 50! Also been to a couple of Ricky’s shows over the years, still love him.
Saps48
Irony, thy name is southernscot…
“Queerty relies to [sic] much on spell check…”
Granny Spoth
oh, please… spare me this.
the liberal fear-mongering seems to be far more prevalent than actual acts of racist policing and racist brutality.
Aires the Ram
In the above article, he says: ““Taking the car and crossing the desert and stopping for coffee at dinner can be risky,” he said. “The United States … has always been like this.”
He admits that he has higher security than most. Understandably.
Does anyone think that RM and his husband, would actually DRIVE across the desert and stop at a local Mom & Pop diner, let’s assume they’re traveling from LA to Vegas? What with the necessary security detail, the clothing, the kids, all of that, don’t you think that he and his entourage probably fly private business jets? You know, I’ve always liked RM, I feel he’s somebody to look up to as a good example, I don’t care that it took him a while to “come out”. I mean with thousands upon thousands of 14 year-old girls buying up all your concert tickets and albums, and screaming at the top of their lungs for this beautiful hunk of a man, who would want to f*u*c&k that up, thereby harming your income stream. Kenny Chesney is another example of that. I just think this has a few too many holes in it for my liking, even though I think RM is a good guy. But I do think he should be careful not to malign a country that has been so very good to him$$$.
Kangol2
I read your comment twice before I responded because I wanted to make sure that I was not misinterpreting it. But you really did write that Ricky Martin, an American citizen by birth, “should be careful not to malign a country” that has been “so very good to him$$$.” Seriously? Ricky Martin has the right to criticize this country as much as he likes. Criticism by pointing out racism and the dangers of racist violence by cops in the US is not “maligning,” unless I guess you disagree with it, but it is his right, as an American, and he can and should do it as much as he feels.
As a Puerto Rican, Ricky Martin is as much an American as you are. He happens to be Latinx, his first language is Spanish, but he is American, born and bred. And he can criticize this country, with its long and extensive history of racism and white supremacy, as much as he desires. You may not know this, but when he was a young actor, he encountered racism in Hollywood, and was even told to take voice lessons to eliminate his Puerto Rican accent, which he refused to do. Also, perhaps you are unaware, but he has log been an international recording star, having earned millions by selling records and performing all over the world, beyond the borders of the US, from the time he was with Menudo onwards. Those 14-year-old girls weren’t all or even mostly in the US.
Aires the Ram
@Kangol2: Yes, I am fully aware, and have been for many years, that RM is an American citizen born in PR. Yes, he has a right to criticize things in this country, as we ALL have under the 1st Amendment to the Constitution. Never said he didn’t. I’m just saying, that ANYONE who is born in this country, even if they’re from less than ideal circumstances, is luckier, and more privileged than the larger percentage of people on this earth. Does that mean he hasn’t encountered obstacles, some because of his race, some because of his sexuality?? Of course he has. And yes, he’s been an international star for many years, he earned it. Nowhere on here have you heard me say that racism in the United States doesn’t exist. It always has, it probably always will, long after all of us are gone. My comment about not maligning a country (this one) that has been very financially beneficial to him, is something I’d say to any successful movie/music/football/basketball/etc. star, who’s in the top of the income brackets. Sure, we all have a right to complain about injustices, but we all need to be thankful we weren’t born and live in say, Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, and any other places where, if we shared our opinions of the country we lived in, on a website such as this, we’d be imprisoned or worst. As my Grandmother always said to me, no matter what happens to you in life, count your blessings.
Cam
For those saying his husband isn’t arab.
Technically you’re right, but when did a white supremacist who sees someone who looks different and has a “foreign sounding” name ever stop to have a cultural discussion with anybody?
They’d treat anybody different that way. So technically he’s a Kurd, but to a racist, they just see “them”.
beauxchan
Considering latino isnt a race and latinos can white and black and most oftenly refer to themselves as white…. I dont know what to say about him…. Imagine being black and gay
jaleoman
Ricky Martin is such a genuine nice guy. I love the man and can’t wait to see him in concert next year. Saw him in 2016 and he was amazing. What an incredible show man .