Joe Piscopo 'loves every bit' of Hilaria Baldwin story regarding Spanish cultural appropriation claims
Piscopo encourages people to 'embrace the story that has anything to do other than politics or the pandemic'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Comedian Joe Piscopo told "America’s Newsroom" on Wednesday that he welcomes the story about Hilaria Baldwin, who is facing immense backlash for revealing that she was born in Boston, Mass., and not Spain as she had previously implied.
"My take is different," the former SNL star said. "I so welcome this. ... This is so much fun. It’s so great."
He explained that he's enjoying the strange saga because the news has been "crazy."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Look at 2020," Piscopo said, referencing "all the negativity," especially amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed more than 340,000 lives in the United States as of Wednesday, according to data provided by Johns Hopkins University.
He went on to point out that Baldwin has spoken with a Spanish accent in the past "and she’s not from Spain."
"You gotta love it, you got to appreciate it and embrace it with all the bad news that’s out there," the talk radio host said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But not everyone has embraced the story.
On Monday, People's Ale Russian wrote of her own experience in a first-person essay titled, "Why the Hilaria Baldwin Scandal Is Painful for Immigrants — Including Me."
"What Hilaria did is not funny: it’s a slap in the face," Russian wrote.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}On Tuesday, The New York Post published an op-ed titled, "Oh, Alec Baldwin, you must know more than you’re letting on."
Alec Baldwin has continued to stand by his wife, fighting off critics who claim she has been misrepresenting the extent of her Spanish heritage.
The 62-year-old actor and Donald Trump impersonator shared a Mark Twain quote to his Instagram on Tuesday after the story surrounding the 36-year-old yoga/wellness expert dominated news headlines a day prior.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes," the quote reads.
Over the weekend Hilaria Baldwin reacted to a tweet that said, "You have to admire Hilaria Baldwin’s commitment to her decade long grift where she impersonates a Spanish person." The tweet has since been deleted.
However, it sparked a firestorm of resurfaced clips and interviews where Hilaria, whose real name is Hillary Hayword-Thomas, suggested she hails from Spain and moved to the United States for college. Speaking in an interview with The New York Times, Baldwin tried to correct some of what she says are misconceptions about how she has presented herself.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}'SNL' REVEALS NEW BIDEN IMPERSONATOR AFTER JIM CARREY ANNOUNCES DEPARTURE
"It’s very surreal," she told the outlet. "There is not something I’m doing wrong, and I think there is a difference between hiding and creating a boundary."
Numerous outlets reported she was born in Mallorca, Spain, but she was born in Boston.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She explained on a podcast in April 2020, "I moved here [to America] when I was 19 to go to NYU from… my family lives in Spain, they live in Mallorca." The bilingual mother of five's accent has also noticeably fluctuated over the years when she made appearances on TV. In one amusing 2015 clip from "Today," she apparently forgets the English word for "cucumber."
Meanwhile, her CAA speaker page, Wikipedia and IMDB page all previously listed her birth country as Spain. The talent agency has since removed any mention of her birthplace, while the latter two have made corrections. Speaking in her latest interview, Baldwin blames false reporting and says she has never actively misrepresented her heritage.
For example, she says she is bilingual and often speaks in various different accents depending on her mood. When it comes to articles and bios incorrectly listing her as being from Spain, she notes that she doesn’t read articles about herself and therefore was unaware that her ethnicity was being incorrectly reported.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}As for the "cucumber" moment, she says that she was simply nervous to be on live TV and had a "brain fart," a colloquial term for when a person forgets something basic.
Piscopo stressed on Wednesday that he’s "loving every minute of" the story.
"We get offended too easily," he said. "Why she did it? I don’t know. I think that’s subject for a sketch on 'SNL,' I’m just saying."
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"Please don’t be offended, just embrace the story that has anything to do other than politics or the pandemic," Piscopo continued.
Fox News’ Tyler McCarthy and Julius Young contributed to this report.