Roselyn Sanchez is speaking out against presidential hopeful Donald Trump…
The 42-year-old Puerto Rican actress, who will serve as a co-host at Sunday’s Miss Universe pageant, says Hispanics have the power to prevent Trump from being elected president.
“I refuse to believe it. I don’t think it’s possible,” said Sanchez when asked by EFE whether the business mogul and Republican candidate could win the 2016 election.
“Hispanics have the power to prevent it,” she said.
Sanchez, an advocate for the Latino community, bowed out as co-host of the 2015 Miss USA pageant, of which Trump had been part owner, saying that incendiary remarks by Trump about Mexican immigrants were degrading.
“He said what he said and never apologized,” Sanchez recalled, adding that hearing Trump’s views on Latinos was “devastating” and “sad.”
Trump, a former reality television star who has performed well in early polling ahead of the first Republican primaries, generated controversy when he said most Mexican immigrants crossing the border were a scourge on U.S. society.
“They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people,” Trump said in launching his candidacy in June.
The magnate sold the Miss Universe Organization to the WME/IMG agency in September after a legal spat with NBC Universal, which along with Univision refused to broadcast the Miss USA pageant, held in July, due to Trump’s remarks.
The Miss Universe Organization runs both the Miss USA and Miss Universe competitions.
Sanchez, known for her roles in the film Rush Hour 2 and the television series Without a Trace and Devious Maids, said Hispanics were doing “incredible things” in fields as diverse as entertainment, science, politics and business.
In that regard, she said she hoped Latinos would “be able to make their voice heard” in the future no matter who is elected as the next U.S. president.
The actress said she agreed to co-host this year’s edition along with comedian Steve Harvey because there were new owners and new people behind this event, which will be held Sunday at the AXIS Theater in Las Vegas and televised by Fox.