MTV Australia Tweets Unfortunate ‘Joke’ About Eva Longoria + America Ferrera at Golden Globes

On Sunday night (January 10), Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives) and America Ferrera (Ugly Betty) presented the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a TV Drama. As the two Latina actresses shared a bit of banter before announcing the winner (Jon Hamm for his role as Don Draper in Mad Men), MTV Australia fired off a tweet requesting subtitles, though both women spoke only in perfect English, Mashable reports.

The tweet, which was quickly deleted due to internet backlash, read: "Where are the English subtitles? We have no idea what @AmericaFerrera and @EvaLongoria are saying #GoldenGlobes." Eagle-eyed tweeters screen-capped the update before it was taken down.

MTV Australia attempted to defend itself in response to public reaction,  claiming the tweet was simply a "joke" in reference to the speech Longoria and Ferrera made before announcing Hamm as the winner.

"MTV’s tweet was in reference to the joke made...by Eva Longoria and America Ferrera at the Golden Globes," MTV Australia's publicity manager Natasha Leivers told Mashable in an email statement. "We realise it was [a] poor joke and have taken the post down. We apologise for causing any offence and have decided to leave the humour to Ricky Gervais."

The joke that Longoria and Ferrera made was about casual racism, relying on humorous yet pointed banter about being mistaken for other Latina actresses — likely a jab at the Golden Globes' own twitter account, which previously referred to Ferrera with the handle of another Latina actress, Gina Rodriquez (Jane the Virgin). The tweet has since been corrected, and the organization issued an apology.

The pair began with simple introductions: "Hi, I'm Eva Longoria, not Eva Mendez. And hi, I'm America Ferrera, not Gina Rodriguez," with Longoria adding, "And neither one of us are Rosario Dawson." "Well said, Salma," Ferrera responded after letting the punchline settle in. "Thank you, Charo," Longoria shot back.

Judging from the audience's reaction, everyone seemed to get the joke except for MTV Australia.

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