Eva Amurri Martino says daughter's Mexican-themed birthday was out of 'love' after backlash

Eva Amurri Martino hosted a Mexican-themed birthday party for her daughter, and now she's responding to critics and clarifying her intentions behind the celebration.

The actress and mom of two explained in an Instagram post that 5-year-old Marlowe loves Mexico and that her birthday was meant to celebrate the cultural impact the country has had in the U.S. She picked the theme "because of a love for Mexico and its people," she wrote.

"A little note on our Mexican themed party for Marlowe: with everything going on in this political climate, I thought now would be a great time to celebrate Mexico and the role it has had in our country culturally," Martino wrote.

Martino is the daughter of Susan Sarandon and Franco Amurri and is not of Mexican descent.

"Anybody who knows Marlowe knows she is obsessed with Mexico- she has had incredible Latin women taking care of her from three weeks old, and one in particular from Mexico who would always call her 'cinco de Marlowe' on May 5th," Martino wrote.

'Sorry to anyone we offended!'

Martino had previously posted a series of photos to Instagram of her family celebrating Marlowe's Mexican-themed birthday bash. Her daughter was pictured in Día de los Muertos makeup.

Some called the theme offensive, so the mom responded.

Martino explained that her daughter's first language was Spanish and loved the Disney movie "Coco" because she connected to it.

"Of course this party was a rudimentary representation of Mexican culture since it was for young kids," the mom wrote. "This aside, we don’t only think it’s important to highlight the beauty of Mexican culture, or the horrors of the attack on Mexicans of late, with a bday party."

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Martino continued, saying that since her daughter's love of Mexico began, she has been donating to charities and calling senators. She said she decided to celebrate with a Mexican theme out of love and respect for the culture, not out of appropriation.

"Regardless of that, I know so many emotions are running high right now surrounding this topic, so sorry to anyone we offended!" she ended the note.

Kevin Hart also faced backlash for "Cowboys and Indians" party

Martino isn't the first star to raise eyebrows over a kid's birthday party theme that could be culturally insensitive.

Kevin Hart fired back at critics last year when he shared photos from his son's "Cowboys and Indians birthday" party on Thanksgiving Day, complete with Native-American blankets, cowboy hats and teepees.

"The reason why I’m even bringing this dumb (expletive) up is because it shows just how stupid our world is becoming with opinions," the comedian said on his SiriusXM show "Straight from The Hart" following the controversy.

He continued: "To throw racial judgement into the development of a 1-year-old’s birthday party where the theme is 'Cowboys and Indians'? It’s based around the outfits that are given to the young kids!"

Critics say that these types of parties are a form of cultural appropriation.

Cultural appropriation is defined as " adopting elements of an outside, often minority culture, including knowledge, practices, and symbols, without understanding or respecting the original culture and context."

Contributing: Cydney Henderson

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Eva Amurri Martino daughter's Mexican-themed party was out of 'love'