“Saturday Night Live” doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to people of color, specifically Latinos. In the show’s iconic history, which spans 44 years, the cast has mostly been white and male. In 2016, they finally hired a Latina to join the cast, which was a year after “SNL” decided to have Donald Trump host the show when he was running for president and calling Mexicans “rapists and criminals.” Latinos boycotted the show and they did receive backlash for allowing him to host. Yet, still “SNL” has yet to learn the importance of Latino representation and inclusion. 

On the season 45 premiere, “SNL” did a sketch that featured the Democratic presidential candidates but did not include Julián Castro and did include Marianne Williamson, who’s not in the running anymore. 

So why didn’t the have someone impersonating Castro? We know they don’t have any Latino comics on the show, however, they could have had their sole Latina comic Melissa Villaseñor put on a wig. She has played a man before. The sketch did include special guest stars including Maya Rudolf (who played Kamala Harris), and Larry David (who played Bernie Sanders). Could they have not asked former Latino “SNL” comics Fred Armisen or Horatio Sanz to play Castro?

“Interesting that @nbcsnl decided to cut one candidate out of this sketch. Could you not find a Latino actor to play @JulianCastro?” Sawyer Hackett, national press secretary for Castro’s campaign, tweeted. 

People on social media were livid at the exclusion of Castro and once again their dismissive attitude toward Latinos. 

Was it too difficult for “SNL” to add one more actor to the stage, especially one that is still in the running — unlike Williamson? Lin-Manuel Miranda and his dad said they would have both stepped up to the plate to play the role of Castro. 

It’s as if “SNL” continues to make the wound even deeper by excluding the only Latino candidate. 

“SNL” knows very well that representation matters, so there’s no excuse for this exclusion. Are they doing this on purpose?

Maybe they think Castro’s persona isn’t funny enough to include in a parody?

If “SNL” has talented writers they could have surely written something hilarious for an actor portraying Castro. We already have staggering facts that show film and TV excludes Latinos in overwhelming statistics, so you would think “SNL” (and all programming for that matter) would want to rectify that. Maybe they just don’t care?

“SNL” has a long history of dissing Latinos, so this just makes it worse.

Latino viewers and talent have been asking for more representation for several seasons now. There was celebration from fans when Melissa Villseñor was brought on in 2016.

Many people see their omission of Castro as the show disregarding Latinos.

This overt move by “SNL” actually made the skit not very funny but cringeworthy. The erasure of the only Latino running for the presidency was glaring.

You know “SNL” messed up bad when Latina moms get involved. 

If you make Latina moms mad, asking for their forgiveness won’t be easy to do. Trust us. We have all been there. However, when you really try to make things up to them, they will accept it.

Since “SNL” screwed up the premiere, will they correct their huge mistake by the next episode?

There’s another debate coming up very soon, and if “SNL” is going to stay relevant in the political comedy stage they better include Castro or they will risk not only alienating a core audience but also looking like they can’t handle diverse comedy.

And, if “SNL” can’t find anyone to play Castro, there’s one person that will be happy to do it. 

Julian’s twin brother, Joaquin Castro — who’s pretty busy right now working on Capitol Hill himself — said he could step in and portray him on the show. We think he’d do a fabulous job because he clearly knows him best right?

Either way, “SNL” needs to get their act together. There’s no reason to exclude a strong candidate for president only to be replaced by a white woman who isn’t running for president anymore. It’s an obvious omission that “SNL” needs to stop. 

READ: New Latina “SNL” Cast Member Called Out Over Controversial Tweets

It’s hard to believe it’s been 15 years since the teen telenovela “Rebelde” first aired on Televisa. At the time, who would have thought that the Mexican soap opera would become an international sensation? As a refresher, “Rebelde” was a Spanish-language soap that ran from 2004-2006 for three seasons. The story focused on Elite Way School, a prestigious Mexico City prep school. The plot revolved around a group of students trying to form a pop band (RBD). At the time, Rebelde” was Touted as “Beverly Hills: 90210” with songs.  The show was so successful that it had teens wearing loose dress-ties and short plaid skirts all across Latinidad. “Rebelde” paved the way for “Gossip Girl” and “Pretty Little Liars”, and the legacy definitely lives on. 

On Sunday, Twitter user @EseGueyBeto revealed that his cousin threw a “Rebelde”-themed going away party, proving that the dearly-departed teen soap is still very much a part of the zeitgeist.

@EseGueyBeto posted a video of the “Rebelde”-themed party, and it did not disappoint. The 16-second video shows a group of people by a pool dressed up in very authentic-looking Elite Way School uniforms. The party-goers wear maroon blazers, unbuttoned dress shirts, loosened dress ties, and skirts short enough to shock your abuela. “Dawg my cousin from Mexico had a going away Rebelde party,” @EseGueyBeto captioned his Tweet.  “I just know Mexican Twitter is here for this”. And boy, was he right. 

@EseGueyBeto followed up his Tweet with another video of the party-goers group singing “Sálvame” while waving sparklers in the air. “The answer is yes,” @EseGueyBeto said. “They did play sálvame at the end of the night”. As he also eloquently put it, everyone was ready to create a “whole ass fire hazard” in order to “be on their feels for sálvame”. Can we blame them? That definitely looks like a party we would have loved to be invited to. 

Currently, @EseGueyBeto’s tweet has racked up over 23,000 retweets and almost 80,000 likes.

Latinos flocked to the Tweet to express their admiration for the theme party. One glance at the thread shows that the video has sparked quite a few people’s imaginations — people were planning on stealing the idea for everything from quinceañera themes to Halloween costumes. The tweet reignited peoples’ interest in the rousing discography of RBD and brought a much-need dose of nostalgia to Latinos who came of age in the early 2000s. 

On @EseGueyBeto’s Twitter thread, “Rebelde” fans from all over the world are coming together to reminisce about the good-old-days, sharing their memories from 2004 and revealing how much they loved the show in their youth. It seems that the great uniter amongst Latinx countries is actually the love for “Rebelde” (the Spanish language is a close second). 

The Twitter thread seemed to reanimate RBD’s dormant fandom, and people responded to the Tweet with unparalleled enthusiasm. 

It seems that the phrase “absence makes the heart grow fonder” is ultimately true. We don’t know if the desire to attend a “Rebelde”-themed party would’ve been as strong among Latinxs back in the early 2000s, but it seems as if the passage of time has made the show a hot commodity. Back in the day, many Latinxs thought of “Rebelde” as a silly telenovela without much substance. Now, people idolize the show because it reminds them of simpler times.

This Latino made it clear that @EseGueyBeto’s tweet inspired him to throw his own party.

We have a feeling that we’re going to be seeing a lot more “Rebelde”-themed parties on the internet from now on. 

This Latina was filled with Mexican Pride at seeing a bunch of people dressed in Elite Way school uniforms.

If this doesn’t make you proud of your heritage, we don’t know what would.

This Latina was impressed by the realism of the party-goers’ outfits.

Back in the day, that forehead star was the epitome of cool. Now, our feelings are a little bit more mixed on that particular fashion statement.

This Latina explained that “Rebelde”-love was not just reserved for Mexicans.

Even though “Rebelde” was actually a remake of an Argentinian show for Mexican audiences, its appeal was widespread across Latinidad. And let’s be honest: soapy teen dramas are a universal guilty pleasure. 

As for us, we’ll definitely be keeping an eye out on social media for the inevitable “Rebelde”-themed parties that will be sweeping the nation in the next coming months. Here’s to hoping that we’ll be attending some of our own!