Broadway diva Lea Salonga took to Twitter suggesting that an Overseas Filipino character should be added in the cast of the well-known American television series “Grey’s Anatomy”.
Her suggestion following the addition of another Asian character in the series, half-Korean and half-Italian actor Alex Landi, who will be playing a new character named Dr. Nico Kim.
“Grey’s Anatomy”, which began airing in 2005, is a medical drama that revolves around a group of surgical interns, residents, and attending physicians and how they developed into seasoned medical practitioners while keeping up with their personal lives and conflicts.
Sharing an article about Landi joining the cast of “Grey Anatomy”, Salonga said that she is happy that another Asian character will be included. However, the Tony Award-winning performer said that she can’t take the show seriously because of the lack of Filipino representation.
“I shall celebrate Alex Landi’s inclusion, but can’t really take any TV hospital show seriously unless there’s a cache of Filipino nurses on staff. I mean, come on,” she said.
I shall celebrate Alex Landi’s inclusion, but can’t really take any TV hospital show seriously unless there’s a cache of Filipino nurses on staff. I mean, come on. https://t.co/jrSWDTKuA3
— Lea Salonga (@MsLeaSalonga) November 2, 2018
According to the Migration Policy Institute, foreign-born Filipinos are the fourth largest group of immigrants in the United States, the majority of which is based in California wherein they make up 20% of the nursing force of the entire state.
During the Emmy Awards 2018, hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che made a joke during their opening monologue about how another medical drama series titled “ER” was able to air for so many years without featuring a single Filipino nurse.
“TV has always had a diversity problem I mean, can you believe they did 15 seasons of ER without one Filipino nurse? Have you been to a hospital?” Che said referring to the ubiquity of Filipino nurses in real-life hospitals but lack of representation.
