Why Is Disney Channel's New Show 'Primos' Coming Under Fire? The 'Oye Primos' Racism Controversy Explained
Disney Channel is the go-to television network for many children around the world. After hosting animated classics like Kim Possible, Gravity Falls and Phineas and Ferb, Disney's latest endeavor, Primos, is an attempt to connect with its Latin American audience.
But the reveal of the theme song for "Primos," which translates to the word "Cousins," has left its creators floundering in hot water amidst accusations of racial insensitivity and stereotyping. Here's all you need to know about the criticism Disney's Primos is facing.
What Is The Upcoming Disney Channel Show Primos About?
Primos is a Disney channel show created and produced by Natasha Kline. The show was greenlit in 2021, and was described as being based on "Kline’s childhood experiences with her extended multicultural Mexican American family."
The show follows the story of "Tater, an eccentric 10-year-old girl," who finds herself stuck with the cousins in her extended family after they move into her home for a summer. Disney dropped the theme song for the show in 2023, which carries the grammatically incorrect refrain, "Oye Primos!"
Why Did The Theme Song For Primos Upset Some People?
The first issue many people seemed to have with the theme song for Primos was the grammatical inaccuracy of saying "Oye Primos," where "oye" is a singular term, while "primos" is plural. Other issues people had with the trailer were the names of the various cousins, which ranged from Nacho and Nachito to Gordita (which just means "fatty").
One young character was even given the unfortunate name Cuquita, which refers to an intimate female body part in some countries and "cockroach" in others.
Other issues taken up by critics of the show include naming the town "Terremoto," which means "earthquake," which is considered insensitive by some due to countries like Mexico and Chile's histories with devastating earthquakes. Many vocal critics of the show did happen to be Latin American natives who found a diasporic American citizen's portrayal of their culture as inaccurate and insulting.
How Did The Creator Of Primos Respond To Their Critics?
Natasha Kline is the creator of Primos and a person of Mexican heritage. She rebuffed criticism of her show by explaining that the characters and concepts portrayed in the show were meant to convey her personal experience of growing up in Los Angeles.
She posted a webcomic that commented on the supposed use of the Mexico filter and showed the hate she and her crew received for the show. In a separate interview, Kline said that she intended for "Oye Primos" to be grammatically incorrect because it was in line with the character Tater's disconnect from the language.
How Did The Voice Actor For Tater Respond To The Criticism?
Myrna Velasco, the voice actor for Tater, posted an Instagram story where she responded to the allegations of unintentional grammatical errors in the show. She began by saying that Spanish isn't a language native to South America and that they were just trying to make a show that's good for kids.
Y’all, Tater’s voice actor responded to the show’s criticism#primos #DisneyChannel pic.twitter.com/wA4a2WfguJ
— Juan Aguilar (@JuanAgu21791447) June 14, 2023
"The Spanish language is not a Latin-American language. It's a language the Spanish conquistadors forced upon Latin-American people. The only reason we're Latin people and not Native American people is because of that distinction. So be mad at me all you want for misspelling words in Spanish, be mad at me all you want for mispronouncing words in Spanish, that doesn't take away from the fact that I am a Mexican-American, Native-American woman. We're trying to make a good show for kids. For kids that feel left out, for kids that are different, for kids who don't have a full grasp on any language no matter where they live. And if you're gonna be mad at that, I don't know, be mad then."
What Are Some Memes People Are Sharing About The Show?
For the full history of Disney's 'Primos' racism controversy, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.
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Zigzagoon
So just from this article alone, it seems like Kline (the creator) actually gave an honest answer while Velasco (the voice actor) was the one who complained about spanish being a colonialist language?
I suppose this is just my opinion, but I at least appreciate Kline giving an actual reason. I don't think Velasco should have said anything at all. I still think the intro/trailer could have been presented in a better way. I may be biased, but I personally I like the concept of "kid who doesn't know spanish tries to speak it to connect to those around her but it ends up failing." The concept, at least. I have no idea if this show would deliver that, but we can only really judge by the trailer.
BaronVonJello
So strange how Latin people all went "wow this is so wrong" and the people behind it all went "NUH UUUUH!"
You'd imagine they'd all clutch their pearls at the slightest thought of offending marginalized people of color and profusely apologize.
katakis
Unfortunately latin people are not color enough for them. They're great for padding statistics showing that "white" people are a minority or unimportant or colonizing, but their actual beliefs tend to be of the uhh yikes! problematic! category.
Cickany1990
Their target audience is guilty feeling white people, not latino people.
winton overwat
Another angle people rarely discuss is that this is simultaneously a retelling of a Mexican-american author growing up as a Mexican-american AND a mass marketed product by the largest media conglomerate in the world.
So while I can understand and empathize (to an extent because of my own ignorance of and distance from Mexican-american culture) with the authors intent, this is also a product presented by an entity from a position of power which you can't separate it from.
So this cartoon will end up inevitably falling victim to what I call the Taco Bell effect: when presented to Americans this is a product that is exotic enough to be interesting, yet familiar enough to avoid driving you away; but when presented to Mexicans this is not exotic enough to feel exciting and not familiar enough to be endearing and thus ends up feeling like an insult.
And this would have always been the case even before discussing them living in Terremoto Heights.
enrikensio
Know what's even funnier? They actually brought Taco Bell here in Mexico. Two times. And always it was a failure.
That's what this cartoon is.
winton overwat
Yeah I do remember both times they did. A few people had it for the novelty when they first opened but there's just no way for Taco Bell to compete with the locals.
FWIW I did try Taco Bell a few months ago when I visited the US and it's ok if you think about it as Tex-Mex Fusion or something like that. If you think of it as Mexican it's horrible.
Ten Shadows
I'm really starting to hate having those teeth shoved in my face everywhere on this site. I hope this blows over soon.