A former Playmate for Playboy's now-defunct magazine for Hispanic men in the United States is creating a new kind of stir: her weather anchor job at San Jose's Spanish-language television station. Apparently, viewers think having been a Playmate means Monica Mesones is just not conservative enough for the station's audience.
Mesones had appeared in the inaugural issue of Un Estilo de Vida two years ago, agreeing to the $10,000 layout with her parents' approval, the Associated Press says. "I definitely…have a lot of respect for other people's opinions," she tells the AP. "Hopefully, my job will speak for itself."
``If they are trying to represent us, Latinos, they should do so with true values that our women have,'' says Luz Agudelo, a viewer who writes a local Spanish-language newsletter on Latino family issues.
``It sends the wrong message to our young Latina women,'' says Teresa Guerrero-Daley, San Jose's police auditor. ``I definitely don't see her as a model.''
The station tells the Associated Press they're not trading on the Uruguayan-born Mesones's magazine past, but neither are they blind to the interest it generates. "We're just trying to promote her as a personality, a weathercaster an entertainment anchor,'' General Manager Ralph Herrera tells the AP. ``Obviously, we don't mind attention.''
Mesones's previous media experience includes having been a sports reporter for a television station in Houston. She has also performed in a Ricky Martin video from 1991 and appeared in department store advertising. And she plans to take meteorology courses.
And Maribel Alvarez, executive director of the MACLA/San Jose Center for Latino Arts, tells the AP critics are getting too fired up about the magazine. ``She's obviously been working very hard to get some attention,'' Alvarez says, ``and that's what all Latinas do, whether they're professional, have Ph.D.s or are aspiring actresses or are working in Silicon Valley.''
