Updated at 5.20 p.m. PT with comment from Gina Rodriguez.
The Golden Globes got off to a shaky start on Thursday morning by misidentifying announcer (and past nominee) America Ferrera as Gina Rodriguez.
In two separate tweets that have since been deleted (see below), the Golden Globes twice stated that Rodriguez, the star of CW’s “Jane the Virgin,” was on stage to present the nominees for the annual awards show presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association when it was in fact Ferrera.
“What occurred this morning was an unfortunate error,” the HFPA said in an official statement. “Our sincerest apologies to both America and Gina.”
Rodriguez went on to address the blunder, but fortunately she wasn’t too fazed by it.
“Who cares? America’s lovely,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “She’s so beautiful and such a fantastic actress. If there’s anybody I want to get mixed up with — it’s her for sure!
“To me, it’s like, whatever. We always make mix-ups in life, man,” Rodriguez added.
Ironically, Ferrera won the Golden Globe in 2007 for “Ugly Betty” and was nominated in both 2008 and 2009 as well for her starring role in the AB series.
Rodriguez won the Golden Globe for “Jane the Virgin” in 2015, the first ever win at the awards show for The CW. She was also nominated this year for the same role.
This is the latest in a string of actresses of color being misidentified in the media. ABC recently displayed a picture of Indian actress Yukta Mookhey and identified her as “Quantico” star Priyanka Chopra.
