Donald Trump denounced by Alejandro González Iñárritu, Junot Diaz, other Hispanic cultural leaders

Alejandro González Iñárritu, Junot Diaz, and other Hispanic leaders have published a letter criticizing Donald Trump as xenophobic.

The statement, which was published Tuesday by Univision but is not affiliated with the network, says that letter’s authors “refuse to keep silent” about Trump’s comments. Almost 70 leaders, including actor Diego Luna and novelist Homero Aridjis, signed the statement, which condemns Trump’s candidacy as absurd and alarming.

According to Time’s translation of the letter, it reads: “His hate speech appeals to lower passions like xenophobia, machismo, political intolerance and religious dogmatism. All of which inevitably reminds us of the past campaigns that have been directed against other ethnic groups and that have resulted in the deaths of millions of people. In fact, the physical aggressions against Hispanics and repeated calls to prohibit the public use of the Spanish language have already started.”

Trump, who is set to host Saturday Night Live this weekend, has faced mounting criticism for his comments about immigration, and the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda has formally asked NBC to cancel his appearance. A Twitter campaign called #RacismIsntFunny has also been calling for the network to drop Trump as SNL host, and an online petition published on MoveOn.org is just shy of 150,000 signatures.