John Leguizamo makes San Antonio stop in Latino-focused MSNBC show
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John Leguizamo in San Antonio. Photo: MSNBC
"Leguizamo Does America" director Ben DeJesus tells Axios the show proves that telling Latinos' stories doesn't just make audiences "feel good" — it's "good business."
Why it matters: The first season of "Leguizamo Does America," which includes an episode about San Antonio, was the most viewed MSNBC original in over two years on Peacock.
State of play: The road trip-style weekly MSNBC series follows host and executive producer John Leguizamo as he explores how Latinos are shaping history, culture and food in major U.S. cities.
- "For season two, I wanted to go deeper into America and put a magnifying glass on Latino exceptionalism, Latino ingenuity, and Latino genius," Leguizamo, who is of Puerto Rican and Colombian descent, said in a statement.
The big picture: The economic power of U.S. Latinos surpassed $4 trillion in 2023, according to a UCLA and Cal Lutheran report published this year.
- "Latinos are over 60 million here in the United States," DeJesus says. "So we are the mainstream, right ... We have something to offer, and from a business point of view, we think it makes a lot of sense as well."
Zoom in: In the show, Leguizamo, an Emmy-winning actor, visits the birthplace of sizzling fajitas with Democratic U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro in San Antonio and trains with lucha libre wrestlers in Denver.
- He also toured Philadelphia, Phoenix, New Orleans and Raleigh with artists, chefs, activists and entertainers.
What they're saying: "When we went to San Antonio, we went there really because it's considered the cradle of Mexican American culture," Leguizamo tells Axios.
- "We knew that the population was still predominantly influenced by Latino culture."
What we're watching: The San Antonio episode, the last in the season, premieres at 8pm Sunday.
- Each episode is available to stream on Peacock the day after airing on MSNBC.