Eva Longoria
Eva Longoria was the center of a "Dia de los Inocentes" joke that fooled many. Reuters

A few days ago we published an article titled “Eva Longoria Signs Contract With Televisa, Will Star In 'Cuna De Lobos' Alongside William Levy.” A day or two later, some other news publication took the information and published it too, quoting us. The article went viral and even Eva Longoria read their take on it, dismissing those rumors and getting a little angry that people would make up such things. Yes, it was all a lie, but what the people quoting us in different media outlets didn’t read, was the disclaimer at the bottom of the article, because the day it was posted, Dec. 28, was “Día de los Inocentes,” which is the Latin American version of April’s Fools.

That day, here at Latin Times, we took it upon us to write a few articles meant as a joke. For example, we wrote that Sofia Vergara was going to run for mayor of L.A. and that Cote de Pablo was returning to NCIS, as well as the Eva Longoria piece. All of the articles had a disclaimer at the bottom in all caps and bold, that read something like this: “Disclaimer: Today, Dec. 28 is Innocent’s Day, so yes, you’ve been fooled! Inocente Mariposa.” After that little note, to let everybody know it was actually a joke and nothing more, we went on to explain what Día de los Inocentes, or Innocents Day, is.

In Hispanic America, the tradition has a religious connotation. It comes from a story in the Bible, where King Herod ordered the killing of all the boys born in Jerusalem in order to kill baby Jesus. That’s why the day is called Day of the Holy Innocents, because all the babies murdered were innocent little creatures that were victims of an atrocity. However, the day has transformed as a date of celebration and pranks to commemorate that Jesus escaped the hands of Herod, and people play all sorts of pranks and jokes on others, just like in April’s Fools. After somebody gets away with a prank, the joker usually cries out “Inocente palomita que te dejaste engañar,” “Inocente para siempre,” “Que la inocencia te valga,” or “Inocente mariposa.”

So you can all relax people, and I would suggest reading articles in whole and not only the first two paragraphs, especially if you work in the media and want to aggregate content. The Eva Longoria story was all made up by us, but at the same time, we let you know it was a joke right there. So now everybody can go and carry on with their lives. Although it would be kinda cool if Miss Longoria would consider making at least a special appearance in a telenovela. We can only hope!

© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.