Wilmer Valderrama,
welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
Man, such a pleasure to be here, man.
Absolutely such a fanatic,
so thank you for your voice in everything.
So happy to be here with you.
No, man, it is honestly my pleasure,
because I've enjoyed watching you over the years.
I mean, you... you've done everything,
you know, from being one of the funniest people,
as playing Fez in That 70s Show,
and then being one of the most hard-core people on NCIS.
I wanted to know,
as somebody who was solving crimes all the time,
when you couldn't do your show during coronavirus,
were you trying to solve crimes at home?
How were you keeping in shape,
being, like, a, like, a naval detective?
Absolutely, absolutely. I had my mom just, like,
uh, hiding... hiding stuff from me,
so I could just, like, look for it, you know?
-(laughing) -Really, really go back and...
and, you know, back-trace my steps, you know?
But, um, no, yeah, it's been...
it was really interesting, man, 'cause, you know,
you get into a rhythm of doing what you do,
and in that moment, we were kind of called to...
(chuckles) you know, just-just be a human,
be a human being and sit back and, like, be okay, with, um,
the uncertainty.
A lot of people were separated
and still are separated from their families,
but you made a decision that I thought was crazy
when you made it, when I heard about it.
You know, they said Wilmer bought his mom a house,
and I was like, "That's amazing."
Then they were like, "Next door to his house."
Then I was like, "This guy's crazy."
'Cause, Wilmer, I love my mom,
but I would not buy her a house next door to me.
Like, that must have been,
like, the greatest gift during corona now.
Because obviously your family could be together.
But surely at some point you were like,
-"This is a crazy decision." -It-it was, it was...
It made so much sense when I was thinking it, you know?
(laughing)
And then I realized: Oh, we're, like, a fence away.
But, you know, look, here's the thing.
Like, the house is really divided
by some really aggressive, you know, bushes
and-and greenery, you know?
There's no direct shot at my windows, you know?
So that felt... that felt, uh, that felt safe.
Um, but, you know, like you said,
you know, the timing for it was really crazy.
-Yeah. -I mean, just to see your mom's face, you know?
Your-your mom... especially as an immigrant,
I mean, you can... you can appreciate this,
you know, the sacrifices they made
-Yeah. -before you can even have a sense of re... memory.
So having her next door is amazing.
And also, as I look into the future and having children.
I mean, that's, like, a built-in babysitter, too.
-You know what I mean? Like... -Mm-hmm. Oh, yeah, that's...
that's what people forget, that's what I...
I tell people all the time is, I go, you...
you move to, like, a Western country,
and all the things that they left from, like,
third world countries are the things that they have to do...
You have to buy babysitters. My mom has always said,
"I am the babysitter. Don't worry about those things."
One of the most amazing things I saw was on your Instagram,
during the, like, the worst moments of this pandemic,
is where you sh... you used your Instagram
to tell stories about essential workers.
You know, you started that little series
called 6 Feet Apart.
And it was a really beautiful showcase of everyone,
whether it was people delivering food,
whether it was people helping others,
you know, whether it was health care workers.
Tell me why you did that and why you felt, like,
you would give your platform to them,
and it wouldn't be about you.
You know, I went to the grocery store, and...
you know, my-my local, uh, grocery worker, you know,
I always say, "Hey, what's up? What's going on?"
You know, and I always ask questions
about their family and all that, and then this day, um,
this was, like, probably, I don't know,
two, three weeks into the pandemic,
and I asked, "How are you doing?"
And, "Uh, doing okay."
And I say, "Why are you doing just okay?
What's going on?" And then they were telling me
that, um, I don't know what it was,
but it was waking things up in people
that they've never expected.
-You know, regular customers would come in, and... -Yeah.
and they would be very...
you know, they would be very affected by anxiety,
-Yeah. -and they had this moment to themselves
where they would just lash out.
And when she said that to me, she said it with, like,
her voice was scrambly, like she'd never...
been talked to that way.
She's always kind of in a way been invisible to people,
and now for the first time, they're now a target.
So the point is that I realized that we were very removed
from what it is like for the people that have to be there
for 12 hours, handling your money
-and bagging your groceries, cleaning the stuff -Mm-hmm.
after you, you know, and...
And I just felt, like, we were better than that,
and the idea was to say,
let me amplify voice, more than anything.
Like, in my opinion, it's the same opinion
as all of us who are in the house, you know?
But I think that if we can have a level of awareness, um...
-of, like, what it's like, or what it takes, -Mm-hmm.
you know, maybe we can have a little moment of-of harmony.
Wilmer Valderrama's story has always included
having people be counted, which is, you know,
the name of one of the initiatives
that you started with America Ferrera, where you...
you said: We have to get out there,
and we have to get people counted,
we have to get people registered to vote,
we have to get people, uh, to be a part of the process
that defines their lives.
Tell me about this process and tell me what you still think
needs to be done for the Latino community in America.
One aspect of it is awareness, right?
But the other one is self-awareness.
I think our communities have not discovered, you know,
uh, their vital, uh, presence into our country,
You know, I think that for most of us immigrants,
you know, sometimes we are tend...
we tend to push into a believe system
that we're still a guest in this country,
-Mm-hmm. -and therefore we don't have a seat at the table.
You know what I'm saying? Like, I feel like sometimes
we're taught that, like, you know, that, um...
"Hey, listen, you should be just grateful that you're here."
You know? And the truth is that until we understand
how many of us are here, until we understand
that it's not just one of us in a full neighborhood, that...
a lot of our neighbors can relate to our interests,
to our likes and to our views,
and most importantly, can relate to our cultures,
uh, no matter where you're from.
So now when you look at the census,
and you think about, "Oh, what are the census?
What is this thing?" And, you know,
having to tell people, "Look, there's no citizenship,
uh, questions, there's no anything."
This is really to understand how many of us are in a neighborhood
and what programs need to be tailored to the needs
to our specific, you know, communities.
And, um, you know, there's a level of confidence
that come with that, um...
And then you have to pivot that confidence
and that ability to know that there's more than...
-two of us in a neighborhood, um... -Right.
that we now, uh, if there's one or two of us in a household,
uh, eligible to vote that it is critical
that you represent your household
because too much has been sacrificed, man.
Like, right? Like, now is the moment
where we use all those sacrifices
and we pay it forward, right?
So I think that-that's, that's to me,
is the, uh, the outlook on why it's so important.
I think that, you know, when I talk about self-awareness,
and self-importance and understanding that...
there is such a critical moment right now in multiple states
that historically has never happened.
You talk about Pennsylvania, you talk about Texas,
you talk about Florida, you talk about Arizona,
and how small of a number of the Latino community
would take for it to flip.
I mean, this is a moment that, uh, we got to celebrate, man.
I mean, we've done the work and now we have the numbers
and now we have the-the demand to ask that seat at the table.
Time to celebrate, uh, time to be counted,
a time to stand up and do something.
I'm happy that you're back on set.
Uh, we're excited to see the new season.
Wilmer, thank you so much for joining me on the show.
Trevor, this was a pleasure, brother-- thank you, my man.