Spanish-language network's interview with Trump stirred internal dissent
John Leguizamo explodes on Univision for interviewing Trump
John Leguizamo lit into Univision for platforming former President Trump, arguing that the stakes of the next election were too high to give him an easy time.
The anchor who conducted a controversial Univision interview with former President Trump last month defended it in a new Washington Post column, claiming he gave the GOP leader a "fair platform" that allowed "conservative Latinos the opportunity to hear directly from him without confrontation or hostility."
Enrique Acevedo, the Mexican-American anchor of "En Punto" on Spanish-language news network Televisa, pushed back on liberal critics who slammed him for not being tougher on Trump and not fact-checking him in real-time during their discussion.
In the Wednesday column, the anchor wrote that giving Trump space to make his claims that viewers could judge for themselves was the point of the interview, and that he didn’t want to be a "protagonist" who would just be "blowing up" the conversation to correct Trump’s claims.
Journalist Enrique Acevedo defended widely criticized interview with former President Trump on Univision. (Screengrab/Univision)
He began the piece by describing the criticism he received for the segment with Trump, saying, "After days in the headlines, reactions to the interview took a turn straying far from a genuine engagement with its content and instead mirroring broader political divisions. As I watched the reaction unfold, I became concerned by the troubling innuendo in this criticism."
He then pushed back on people displeased with how he conducted it, adding, "Amid intense partisanship with clearly delineated camps, my interview with Trump wasn’t crafted to convince Democrats or my colleagues in the press that Trump is an unsuitable choice."
"Instead, its purpose was to afford conservative Latinos the opportunity to hear directly from him without confrontation or hostility," he said, later adding, "My firm belief was that, rather than imposing a personal stance, the goal was to empower viewers to form their own assessments and process the information rationally rather than emotionally."
Everyone from ABC’s "The View" to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus expressed outrage over the interview. Actor John Leguizamo took to social media and said, "I am asking all my brothers and sisters who are actors, artists, politicians, activists to not go on Univision."
Major Latino advocacy groups delivered a letter of protest to network executives, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus wished to request a meeting with Univision after it aired.
SUPPORT FOR BIDEN CRUMBLING AS UNFAVORABLE POLL NUMBERS CONTINUE TO ROLL IN
Acevedo maintained he gave Trump a "fair platform" that would allow Univision viewers to judge him for themselves. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Acevedo continued: "In offering a fair platform for Trump’s views, which resonate with a growing segment of Televisa-Univision’s viewership, I intentionally granted him ample space. It was a soft interview by design, not by accident or imposition, like some suggested."
"I treated him as a former head of state, not the host of ‘The Apprentice,’" the anchor added.
He took aim at specific criticisms, stating, "No, I didn’t fact-check statements live that have already been debunked repeatedly, and were debunked again after our conversation aired; what would have been the point in blowing up the conversation to do so? I would have become a protagonist instead of letting relevant information serve that role."
He then wrote, "Others labeled me a traitor for not hammering even more on immigration, assuming Hispanics are interested in only one topic, which I find overly simplistic at best."
Toward the end of the piece, Acevedo declared, "True journalistic integrity lies not in sensationalism, but in fostering a space for diverse perspectives to be explored, offering the audience a deeper examination of critical actors beyond the confines of public caricature."
Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood contributed to this report.
Gabriel Hays is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.
