Latino Producers, Actors Applaud Proposed Boycott : Television: Many are sympathetic to the groups’ charges that networks have failed to diversify programming, but some say ABC has been unfairly singled out.

Latino actors and producers in the television industry reacted strongly Friday to a proposed viewer boycott of ABC, voicing either full support or at least sympathy for the frustration that led a coalition of organizations to suggest it as a means of getting more Latinos into prime time.

“My instinctive feeling is that it’s sad that people have to get to this level to get an industry to see a situation that is evident,” said actor-director-producer Edward James Olmos. “But it doesn’t surprise me at all that it has reached this stage. It’s been shown through history time and time again (that) the only time someone oils the wheel is when it starts to squeak. There’s no preventive maintenance until it is too late.”

A coalition of 45 national Latino organizations on Thursday criticized all four major TV networks but singled out ABC for a boycott, saying the network reneged on a promise to include more Latinos in its prime-time programs this season.

ABC executives continued to deny that such a promise had been made.

John Leguizamo, star and executive producer of the new Fox sketch comedy series “House of Buggin’,” said he was pleased by the protest.

“I’m really proud,” said Leguizamo, who wrote and starred in the award-winning stage shows “Mambo Mouth” and “Spic-O-Rama,” which were also produced as cable specials. “The only way we will get things changed in this country is to show we have strong buying power, to show that we will boycott, to show that we will write letters, to show that we won’t lay down and be walked over. We’re not walking mats anymore.”

Leaders of the Latino coalition said they would soon announce a date for Latinos and others to take actions against ABC that will include viewer and advertiser boycotts, a letter-writing campaign and demonstrations at network facilities and affiliated stations.

The leaders said that Capital Cities/ABC President Robert Iger did not follow through on a promise they said he made to the National Hispanic Media Coalition 18 months ago to put a Latino-themed show on the schedule by the fall of 1994 and to include more positive portrayals of Latinos in prime-time programs.

Iger was unavailable for comment Friday, but an ABC spokesperson said, “The commitment Bob Iger made was to try to develop Latino-themed programming in prime time as quickly as possible, and he remains personally committed to achieving this goal. But he absolutely did not set any deadlines because the process of developing a successful show is inherently uncertain and dependent upon a whole host of creative factors, not simply the diversity of the cast.”

The protest comes about four months after a study by the Washington-based Center for Media and Public Affairs showed that Latinos accounted for only 1% of all characters in prime-time entertainment programs during the 1992-93 season. The report said that the number of Latinos in prime-time television shows had dropped from 3% in 1955 to 1% in 1992, despite the fact that Latinos make up 10% of the U.S. population.

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Leaders for the groups, which included the American G.I. Forum, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Mexican American Defense League, the National Council of La Raza and Nosotros, a group of Latino actors, also charged NBC, CBS and Fox with racism, saying all four networks were “almost equally culpable in their poor treatment and negative portrayal of the Latino community.”

CBS and NBC officials had no immediate comment. At a gathering of television reporters in Pasadena on Friday, John Matoian, president of the Fox Entertainment Group, was asked if he makes a conscious effort to include Latinos in prime time.

“It’s an issue I think we keep firmly in mind,” Matoian said. “I know that Fox Inc. has made a real commitment in the hiring of Nely Galan to come in and be a major voice and consultant on those issues of Latino programming.”

Galan, president of Galan Entertainment, an independent production company that is working in association with Fox to develop television shows and films in English and Spanish for Latinos in the United States, said that although she understood the anger behind the protest, ABC has been diligent in trying to put a Latino program on the air.

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“If people are upset about stereotypes in the media, then they should complain,” Galan said. “It’s about time, and it’s been going on too long. Unfortunately, it gets to a point when people get so upset that they blame one company that is not the most culpable. ABC has really tried to get Latino projects on the air, as has Fox.”

She said that she has had a series in development with ABC about a 13-year-old Latina for about two years.

Galan added, “Ultimately ABC is a good company, and they’re unfortunately being targeted, but this will make everyone stand up and be careful and act with a bit more caution. The truth is, this is a money-making market. To not pay attention to us is pretty stupid.”

The complaints mark the second time in less than a year that the television industry has been accused by advocacy groups of discrimination against minorities. The Rev. Jesse Jackson last July accused the major television networks of “institutional racism” and vowed to encourage viewers to boycott networks that refuse to schedule programs with positive ethnic images or that do not place minorities in key decision-making positions.

Though Jackson has not yet called for any viewer action against the networks, a spokesperson for Jackson said that he and his Rainbow Coalition Commission on Fairness in the Media would support the Latino protest.

Times staff writers Daniel Howard Cerone and Judith Michaelson contributed to this story.