Sofía Vergara fired back at an interviewer who made fun of her accent.
The actress appeared in a recent episode of the Spanish talk show, El Hormiguero to discuss her forthcoming Netflix series, Griselda. As she and host Pablo Motos were chatting, he mocked the way she said Modern Family. "How do you say Modern Family?" he asked, per Entertainment Tonight.
Vergara fired back, "I say it wrong? Oh, because you speak better English than me? Ah."
Motos tried to recover but she interrupted him again, asking, "How many Emmy nominations do you have in the United States? How many times did they nominate you at the Golden Globes?"
Vergara has been nominated four times at the Emmys and four times at the Golden Globes for her role as Gloria in Modern Family, while El Hormiguero has landed one Emmy nomination in 2011, though it didn’t win.
Modern Family aired for 11 seasons, from 2009 to 2020, where Vergara played a Colombian character who would often mispronounce English for comic effect. Fans weren’t happy about her portrayal of Latina women, slamming her for reinforcing stereotypes.
“What’s wrong with being a stereotype?” she told Hola! magazine in 2017, per Page Six. “Gloria’s character is inspired by my mom and my aunt. They are both Latin women who grew up in Colombia, like me. They love color, prints and shoes … It upsets me when Latinos complain about Gloria.”
She continued, “I am grateful for the opportunity because the gringos have let me in with this strong accent I have. Eight years ago nobody had an accent like this on television.”
Her new show, Griselda, where Vergara plays the Colombian drug lord Griselda Blanco, premieres on Netflix on Jan. 25.
