Lela Loren received death threats for her portrayal of Angela Valdes. Apparently, some viewers were really passionate about her role in the issues between James and Tasha St. Patrick. Sometimes the conversations got deeper than if Angela broke up their marriage. There are viewers who feel like the love triangle has racial undertones that are problematic.
Angela is a Latina. Some viewers complained about how Angela is portrayed in comparison to Tasha, a black woman of a darker skin tone. To some, it just seemed intentional. Especially, since Tasha is the one who told Ghost he can’t leave his life of crime behind. And Angela wanted him to.
“Power” creator Courtney Kemp was asked about casting a “white Latina” for Angela’s role. The interviewer said she was annoyed by the question. She told the interviewer that she did not know that there were people who refer to themselves as white Latinos. But she always wanted Angela to be Puerto Rican.
Here’s what she told Vibe:
Okay, so, first of all, I push back on ‘white Latino.’ I don’t even know what that means. I don’t know what that is. I don’t even know what that’s saying. What is a white Latino? There are people who consider themselves white Latinos; I guess that’s a thing I’ve never heard about before. Being from the East coast, so many people are Afro-Latino, so I don’t know what a white Latino would be.
However, [Angela] was always Puerto Rican. One of the people I looked at … I looked at Elizabeth Rodriguez. We looked at Monique Gabriela Curnen, who played other parts on the show, so we were going after Puerto Rican actresses. That’s what I wanted. Puerto Rican, no matter how they showed up. Again, I really don’t like that term ‘white Latino.’ I don’t even … how does that even work? I’m not going to even ask you those questions; I’m just confused. It was always to try and find someone who was Puerto Rican.
It’s said that Lela Loren is actually mixed. Her mother is Mexican and her father is European/Italian.
When it comes to Tasha, Courtney said she wanted Tasha to be beautiful and brown-skinned. She felt like there were no beautiful, brown women being sensual at the time on television.
