Faking Ethnicities

You couldn’t just post this comment on an existing Hilaria thread? What is the psychological need to create threads that don’t need created?

None of those people completely faked their identity, OP. It's one thing to "appropriate" a culture or ethnicity but what this woman did is outright fraud.

[quote] 4. Christine Biranski

Oooh, please elaborate on this. She's presented at the Tony Awards in the past, and there was one ceremony where she essentially had a British accent. Not the typical Transatlantic one, but this deeply affected one. It wasn't nearly as blatant in other ceremonies. Unsure if she was doing a play with the accent at the time.

Maybe people ASSUME Martha Stewart is a WASP.....but she never claimed to be one. Lauren may design WASP-y stuff but he didn't actually lie about his ethnic background, either

Having an affected accent like baranski isn't the same thing as lying.....

Looks like someone in Hilaria's camp is trying to justify her lies

[quote]Any American born in the U.S. that claims that they’re Irish, Polish, Italian, etc.

Hilarious doesn't even have ANY Spanish ancestors. She's a WASP whose ancestors came over on the Mayflower. She just flat-out made up the Spanish stuff, claimed she was born there, and faked an accent. That's way worse than Americans who have Polish or Italian immigrant grandparents saying that they're "Polish" or "Italian", when what they mean is Polish-American or Italian-American.

Who is the dude in the pic OP?

As someone who grew up as a1st generation American, my parents called me Tomas at home and I was called Thomas at school. So, it is conceivable that her family addressed her as Hilaria at home, which translates to Hilary in English, and all this "cancelling" is ridiculous!

And when I speak English around my family, I speak with an accent. When I'm at work or with English speaking friends, I speak perfect English with no Spanish twang! So, I guess I'm guilty of the same fraud!!!!

American is a nationally, ethnicity is your genetic heritage. The land is which your lineage comes from. So those people are right.

Remember, anyone whose American, heritage comes from somewhere else. Except native Americans and African Americans are also a special situation, because they were bought here they didn't immigrate to America. Unless your a recent African immigrant.

Most black Americans are descended from slaves in America.

[quote] Lauren may design WASP-y stuff but he didn't actually lie about his ethnic background

He didn't actually lie about being Ralph Lifshitz. He didn't actually claim to be Sophia Lauren's brother.

America is filled with frauds, Just look at Trump.

America, where anyone can be whatever they want to be.

The Worst:

Everybody's go the right to be different. Even though, at times, they go to extremes.

R10, except Trump has made people realize that there is a cost to pumping out lie after lie after lie. It dulls people’s ability to see the truth.

[quote]So, it is conceivable that her family addressed her as Hilaria at home, which translates to Hilary in English

My parents took me to Disney World but they didn't start addressing me as Mickey at home.

Hasn't Martha Stewart always been very open about her Polish Catholic roots?

R8 Being brought is also migration

R15, yes. Like I said, she never claimed to be a WASP, so it's weird that she's being singled out by OP

R15 There's no such thing as Catholic roots. No one is born catholic. It's a story you choose to believe or are forced to believe by your parents, relatives etc

Madonna: Puerto Rican, Black(ish), Gay Male, English (Posh), Portuguese, Cape Verdean, Colombian, Japanese(ish), German-Dietrich(ish), Argentinean Blonde: what fake cultural and ethnic identity hasn't she been?

Not OP but r6, it's Thomas Calabro from Melrose Place. Who has never claimed to be anyone other than an American of Italian heritage.

[quote] Hasn't Martha Stewart always been very open about her Polish Catholic roots?

She often had her mother “Big Martha” on her show to make pierogi and other traditional Polish foods.

R18, Stewart mentioned the Catholic part in a video once when she made latkes. She said that her Polish mother had a latke recipe and added for clarification that her mom was Catholic and not Jewish.

IIRC her recipe included a bit of beer being added to the grated potatoes.

Thank god she didn't ask her Polish mother to change a light bulb on camera, because that would've been hilarious!!!!

When Christine Baranski hosted SNL, her monologue was set up to have people ask questions about Polish stereotypes so she could get explain and become exasperated. She didn't change her name, even after marriage, so I don't think she's hiding her Polish background.

I read an interview with Martha Stewart, decades ago. The interviewer mentioned Stewart’s “WASP” roots and name. Martha told her she was Polish, and the surname was her married name. She had started her career while married, and was from a generation that still took their husband’s names. But Martha has never claimed to be anything other than Polish.

Jonah Hill Feldstein and Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz never claimed to be anyone else.

Martha Stewart's maiden name is Kostyra, her mother's family name is Ruszkowski.

Were Babs Streisand and Dustin Hoffman among the first Jewish stars to keep their Jewish names and not give in to the pressure of assimilation with Anglicized names like Kirk Douglas did?

Being pressured by the studios to hide your ethnicity or religion is not the same thing as pulling a Hilaria

R28, Issur Danielovitch? Of course, he changed his name. Many actors change their names because they just don’t sound good or memorable.

Hilaria made up an elaborate history about her life....it's not just a matter of her "changing her name." And she has framed magazine covers of herself all over her home -- so her stating she doesn't read articles about herself is another lie. All her bio websites that mentioned her Spanish heritage were no doubt bookmarked on her laptop. She is a complete fraud.

And it's bougie Americans who pronounce Ralph's last name [italic]lor-ENN[/italic] so it's sounds vaguely Frahnch. It's just plan old [italic]LOR-ən[/italic].

So OP is equating Hilaria, who led people to think she was of at least part Spanish heritage when she's not, with Americans who rightly claim a background in various countries and ethnicities but don't pretend to be anything but an American of Irish background, or Italian or Polish or whatever background.

I can't imagine what OP's heritage is. Maybe he's one of these troglodytes who list their ethnic background as "American" on surveys because they can't conceive of someone both identifying as American and identifying with the heritage(s) of their parents or grandparents (etc.) who were born in another country.

Only people I've met who faked ethnicities were black guys claiming to be Egyptian.

Somalia*

Baranski is a native of the Buffalo area and never tries to pass herself as anything else. If she has removed the dialect from her speech that was probably a professional decision. I love her voice and speech qualities.

"Were Babs Streisand and Dustin Hoffman among the first Jewish stars to keep their Jewish names and not give in to the pressure of assimilation with Anglicized names like Kirk Douglas did?"

Yes. During the studio era actors had to have a mainstream sort of name if they wanted to work, but that changed with the collapse of the studio system. I think Barbra Streisand was the first to make it big without making any effort to anglicize, and I have older Jewish friends who still adore her for that.

So she paved the way for non-WASP white actors like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger to keep their real names, hell, she even got Terri Sue Feldshuh to change her first name to Tovah, to be more ethnic.

She had already established herself on Broadway and doing live theatre in NY, so there was no reason for her change her name. If she had started in Hollywood under the studio system, they would've changed her name early on, but she was no beauty so she never would've made it very far in the Hollywood factory. It's amazing she found a back door and slithered in. Kudos to her.

"She has a face for the stage!" = homely and not telegenic. Will never be a movie star.

Americans running around a St. Patrick’s Day parade, celebrating their ambiguously Irish heritage is worse than Hilaria. At least she had some sort of story to go along with it. Most Irish Americans couldn’t even find Ireland on a map.

I used to work with a Chinese-Malaysian guy who in all seriousness walked into a tartan shop in Edinburgh, and asked if they had the McWong tartan. He was absolutely nuts.

Not it.

What land is Latifa Queen of?

Iyanla, my ass.

[quote]Yes. During the studio era actors had to have a mainstream sort of name if they wanted to work, but that changed with the collapse of the studio system. I think Barbra Streisand was the first to make it big without making any effort to anglicize, and I have older Jewish friends who still adore her for that.

Al Jolson was THE biggest star in the world for a while. And the first full talkie "The Jazz Singer" which he starred in was about a Jewish entertainer.

Jolson was all about his Jewish heritage. No he didn't use his real name "Yoelson" but "Jolson" was close enough.

Being Martha Stewart has definitely worked out for her. Isn't she a Billionaire or something? She's had a successful brand for decades.

[quote]So she paved the way for non-WASP white actors like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger to keep their real names,

What on earth are you talking about?

Hollywood was full of "ethnic" last names long before Streisand.

I believe Valentino was a stage name for Rudolph.

Wasn't it?

His real name: Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filiberto Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella

But his stage name "Rudolph Valentino" sure wasn't trying to pretend he was anything other than Italian.

Same with actors like Ramon Navarro or Cesar Romero. Those names can be nothing other than Spanish or Italian.

What a gorgeous package in op.

Robert De Niro is often regarded as Italian, but only his paternal grandfather was Italian. His other three grandparents were Irish, German, Scottish etc.

R43 R47 and R48 Hollywood in the 1920s was different. The pre-code era included ethnic stars like Anna Mae Wong and Sessue Hayakawa who was as big as Valentino among white female audiences. When the big studio era started in the 30s things changed and became "cleaned up" and corporatized to appeal to mainstream America.

R45 There may have been Spanish and Asian ethnics for use in certain roles but Irish were often confined to a sub-genre of movies and there were very few if any overt Jews.

A funny article from a digital publication (Barcelona, but published in Castillian.)

R9 It’s Sophia Loren, not Lauren, and that’s also a stage name.

The real problem with her is she is pimping her children out , being an attention whore. They have no say in this. It is exploitation.

Hilaria’s cleaners are everywhere, folks.

Comparing her years-long impersonation of a Spanish person from Spain claiming Spanish birth who came to the US at the age of 19 for college with Americans born in the US is, on its face, ludicrous. It’s not even about the accent used to buttress the “I’m a Spaniard” story: it’s about the story, which is bullshit.

When lies replace the truth, we’re all fucked. When lies are revealed to be lies and the liar claims they’re the truth, the liar is fucked.

As here and rightly so.

Hilaria is every white American girl who went to Spain ONCE and still pronounces it "BarTHAlona" 20 years later.

I resemble that remark, R32!

r15 She mentioned it in her many cookbooks, constantly referenced it on her TV show, etc.

[quote] My parents took me to Disney World but they didn't start addressing me as Mickey at home.

Not to your face, anyway.

[Maybe people ASSUME Martha Stewart is a WASP.....but she never claimed to be one.]

The fact that a classy caucasian lady with blonde hair would automatically be assumed to be a "WASP" is beyond ridiculous. Ignorance/retardation knows no bounds.

Martha also has that "wealthy New England" air about her, which probably fuels the misconception. She's originally from New Jersey, but spent a big chunk of her life in New England. No clue where she lives now.

Changing your last name upon marriage, or at any other time for any reason, is not "lying about your ethnicity." Lying about your ethnicity is lying about your ethnicity.

The dude in the pic is not Italian-American Thomas Calabro