Gina Rodriguez has faced backlash due to a video she recently posted in which she sings along to a song that contains the N word. Many thought that her response to the criticism was sarcastic and insincere, and since then social media has been swept with a storm of users calling Rodriguez anti-black. Individuals have pointed out behavior that points to a history of careless racism by Rodriguez.

In 2017 Rodriguez tweeted about inclusion as the Black Panther movie was being released. She questioned why Latino and Latina actors were not receiving the same representation in Marvel movies. Many thought this remark was ill-timed, and that it seemed unsupportive of the spotlight black actors were receiving. In addition, several Afro-Latinx actors had starred in marvel films. In 2018, Rodriguez interrupted her co-star, Yara Shahidi, when she was asked about being a role model for black women. Rodriguez quickly interjected with: "So many women." Some viewers of this interview saw this as Rodriguez making the moment an "All Lives Matter" type of situation.

Despite Rodriguez's sarcastic response to the criticism about her singing the N word, in a recent interview she expressed her devastation about the back lash against her, and even broke down crying. She apologized for causing any pain, and talked about her own background, "My father is dark-skinned, he's Afro-Latino. If anything, the black community is my community. As Latinos, we have black Latinos. That is what we are. I am not, so I think that when I speak about Latino advocacy people believe I only mean people of my skin color." Many did not find this apology sufficient, and say that she did not admit to making a mistake, even if it wasn't intentional.

Social media makes our world a completely different place than it was even ten years ago, and empowers people to say what they wish, whether it is Gina Rodriguez, or her critics. One thing is for sure, and it's that we are forced to be much more careful with what we say, because media immortalizes our words for all to see or read. Hopefully this teaches us to be more kind, careful, and considerate with our words, because social media also makes it easy to hide behind a screen, or to think it doesn't matter what we post.