Eva Longoria has turned to Twitter to criticize GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's controversial proposal to use children as janitors, writing: "@newtgingrich you clearly know little about the Latina community, Latina entrepreneurs who start businesses at 6 times the national average." The Hill reported.
Last Thursday, Gingrich defended his controversial plan to have school children from poor neighborhoods serve as janitors.
"Really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works so they have no habit of showing up on Monday," Gingrich claimed.
"They have no habit of staying all day, they have no habit of I do this and you give me cash unless it is illegal," he added.
Latino children have one of the highest poverty rates in the country, according to statistics from the National Poverty Center. Thirty-five percent of Latino children live in poverty, compared to the 38 percent of African-American children and 12 percent of white children, according to The Hill.
Longoria, an outspoken Obama supporter who turned her Twitter fury in Gingrich on Saturday, also tweeted a link to The New York Times' Charles M. Blow Op-Ed column, "Newt's War on Poor Children.
Blow argued that the former speaker's statement not only was "cruel and broadly speaking, incorrect, it’s mind-numbingly tone-deaf at a time when poverty is rising in this country. He comes across as a callous Dickensian character in his attitude toward America's most vulnerable -- our poor children. This is the kind of statement that shines light on the soul of a man and shows how dark it is."
Blow also tweeted his thoughts on Gingrich:
Earlier today, Gingrich did not appear to back away from his comments, tweeting that he had been recently "talking about the importance of learning the work ethic early in life. What was your first job? #firstjob"
Longoria seemed to want to demonstrate not only her patriotism but also her "work ethic" when she tweeted yesterday:
Is this Twitter battle escalating?