“Hilaria Baldwin Roasted Over ‘Fake’ Spanish Accent During DWTS Interview — Accusations, Backlash, and Her Response”
Hilaria Baldwin, contestant on Dancing With the Stars Season 34, has once again found herself in the eye of a public storm — this time over accusations that her Spanish accent is not genuine. Social media lit up after an interview in which Baldwin, known to blend English and Spanish in her speech, appeared with a pronounced accent that many listeners considered performed rather than natural.
The controversy isn’t new. Baldwin has long faced skepticism over how and why she speaks with a Spanish accent — critics pointing out inconsistencies in her speech, and recalling moments when she seemed to “forget” an English word and substitute a Spanish one. During a cooking segment on Today, for example, she supposedly couldn’t immediately recall “cucumber” in English, opting for the Spanish “cebollas” (onions) instead — sparking memes and mockery.
In response, Baldwin has defended herself on multiple occasions, emphasizing her bilingual upbringing. She admits she was born in Boston and spent time in both the U.S. and Spain as a child. She maintains that her accent sometimes fluctuates depending on whether she’s been speaking more English or more Spanish lately — a process she describes as natural for someone raised between cultures.
At the heart of this debate is a tension many people feel when they see public figures traverse cultural and linguistic boundaries. For some, Baldwin’s accent comes across as confusing or inauthentic. Others sympathize with the challenge of having a blended identity and argue that switching or mixing languages and accents is a common experience for many bilinguals. Baldwin herself has said she feels “hurt,” that this criticism “put me in dark places,” and that it doesn’t make her any less herself.
During her DWTS interview, while the accent issue was not necessarily the primary topic, its shadow loomed large — many observers picked up on how much attention Baldwin’s speech patterns still get. Whether or not the accent in that interview was more or less pronounced than before, it served again as a reminder of how public perception can latch onto something as intimate as one’s voice, identity, or cultural roots.
Ultimately, the story speaks to broader questions: why do we police accents? What do we expect when someone claims a multicultural identity? And how much room do public figures have to express themselves without being dissected? For now, Hilaria Baldwin is pushing back against the mockery, insisting that being both English- and Spanish-speaking isn’t something to apologize for — it’s part of who she truly is.
