This past season on an episode of Modern Family, Jay (Ed O’Neill) and Gloria (Sofia Vergara) bickered when he kept insisting she speak with their housekeeper, despite the fact that the housekeeper spoke Portuguese, not Spanish. Turns out, conflating all South Americans is a joke pulled straight from the Modern Family set (and also, Clueless). In a roundtable interview of comedy actresses organized by The Hollywood Reporter — in which Wanda Sykes also gives the following quote about Larry David: “And he is just awkward to work with. I love him but he’s just awkward and he makes me uncomfortable” — Sofia Vergara recalled one disagreement she’d had with the writers: “I was supposed to shoot a wedding scene. Gloria, my character, is marrying Jay (Ed O’Neill) and so they do the (Colombian) wedding thing, and I arrive (on set) and there’s people dressed like Mexican people! ‘This is a traditional Mexican outfit! Do a little bit of research! This is so annoying!’ It was so painful. Americans think every Latin person is the same.” But at least we can repackage that ignorance as a sitcom joke.
