Actor John Leguizamo continued his media tour that is supposed to be about The Odyssey, but is really just an excuse for him to push his race-based identity politics on Wednesday when he joined NBC’s Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. In addition to The Odyssey, Fallon helped Leguizamo promote his children’s book that purports to help Latin children see themselves in such a book, but what both men left out is that multiple role models mentioned in the book are communists.
Fallon set things up wondering, “Can you talk about what it is and how did it get started?”
Leguizamo claimed the project began with a lament, “Well, Jimmy, so, the scholastic Michael Hagen told me, he said, ‘You know, Latin children are the least represented in children's picture books. Less than five percent of children's books are about Latin kids. You're more likely to see the face of an animal than a Latin child.’ And we're 30 percent of the U.S. population in public schools. So, what does that do to a child's self-worth and self-validation?”
Actor John Leguizamo hypes his children's book with Jimmy Fallon, "the scholastic Michael Hagen told me, he said, 'You know, Latin children are the least represented in children's picture books. Less than five percent of children's books are about Latin kids. You're more likely… pic.twitter.com/Kxlwp168a7
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) July 23, 2026
That led “me and my friend from high school, ‘Crash’ John Matos, one of the great graffiti artists in the world” to put the book together.
Fallon congratulated Leguizamo on the publication, “Wow. Good for you for doing that.”
After some quips about what it is like to write a children’s picture book, Fallon quoted the book, “You crushed it. But I just want to say, I like this, the dedication that you put here. You said, ‘To all the kids who felt unseen, unheard, and ostracized and who have to make themselves small, this book is for you, hoping it undoes some of the invisibility and lets you feel large and concrete.’”
On the Amazon page for the book, there are a couple of free previews of what is inside. One features a kid claiming far-left capitalism hater and terrorist sympathizer Greta Thunberg is one of her role models.
A second picture in the preview shows several portraits on a brick wall. For example, Remedios Varo, married a Trotskyite. Diego Rivera was a communist. Frida Kahlo was not only a communist but also had an affair with Leon Trotsky. Gabriel Garcia Marquez was friends with Fidel Castro. Even among those who were not necessarily communists, there are those such as Jose Clemente Orozco, who was still an anti-religion radical.
Leguizamo’s thesis that Latin children need to see a Latin character in a picture book to feel included in America is highly questionable, especially considering it is coming from a man who is doing a media tour to promote his role in an adaptation of a Greek story despite being originally from Colombia. What is certain is that, even if one were to be charitable and grant Leguizamo the point that Latin children need Latin heroes, communists are not heroes.
Here is a transcript for the July 22-taped show:
NBC The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
7/23/2026
12:18 AM ET
JIMMY FALLON: Let's talk about your children's book here, by the way. Congratulations on this. This is "Kiki—
JOHN LEGUIZAMO: Oh, I'm so proud of this book.
FALLON: — Kiki and the Can.
LEGUIZAMO: Yeah.
FALLON: Can you talk about what it is and how did it get started?
LEGUIZAMO: Well, Jimmy, so, the scholastic Michael Hagen told me, he said, “You know, Latin children are the least represented in children's picture books. Less than five percent of children's books are about Latin kids. You're more likely to see the face of an animal than a Latin child.”
FALLON: Wow.
LEGUIZAMO: And we're 30 percent of the U.S. population in public schools. So, what does that do to a child's self-worth and self-validation? So, me and my friend from high school, "Crash" John Matos, one of the great graffiti artists in the world—
FALLON: Yeah.
LEGUIZAMO: — Who was the first to take graffiti and put it on canvas. He and I put this book together.
FALLON: Wow. Good for you for doing that. Was it harder than you'd think?
LEGUIZAMO: Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was ridiculous. Five years to write 26 pages.
FALLON: Is that right? It's tricky, right?
LEGUIZAMO: Way tricky. It's not that I'm reading — you know, that I'm reading disabled, but it was difficult.
FALLON: No. Well, you have to tell a story in a short—
LEGUIZAMO: It's short, like a haiku. Like, you have to compress entertainment, fun, storytelling and all that in, like, one sentence.
FALLON: And you did do it. Congratulations.
LEGUIZAMO: I think I did. I mean, I hope.
FALLON: You did. You crushed it. But I just want to say, I like this, the dedication that you put here. You said, "To all the kids who felt unseen, unheard, and ostracized and who have to make themselves small, this book is for you, hoping it undoes some of the invisibility and lets you feel large and concrete."
LEGUIZAMO: Oh, beautiful. Oh, thank you. Thank you.
