Actress Salma Hayek — who's from Mexico — bows to 'woke' fans after touting controversial novel about Mexican woman before she read it

Actress Salma Hayek is the latest celebrity to get called out for her sins by ever-vigilant, ever-woke social justice warriors — and in turn she gave an effusive, even appreciative apology to the leftist mob "for setting me straight," presumably lest she be crushed or canceled.

What are the details?

Hayek posted a now-deleted Instagram photo of herself thanking Oprah for recommending new novel "American Dirt" to her book club and "giving a voice to the voiceless & for loving harder in response to hate," Yahoo Celebrity reported.

Problem is that Jeanine Cummins' novel — about a Mexican woman fleeing to America with her 8-year-old son after Mexican drug cartels kill numerous family members — has been embroiled in controversy, the outlet said.

More from Yahoo Celebrity:

In a review for the New York Times, writer Parul Sehgal noted the book's othering of its characters: "The writer has a strange, excited fascination in commenting on gradients of brown skin: Characters are 'berry-brown' or 'tan as childhood,'" and Sehgal wasn't the only one to object. Chicana writer Myriam Gurba wrote a scathing review of the book, writing that it is filled with racist stereotypes, "among them the Latin lover, the suffering mother, and the stoic manchild."

Cummins who has identified as white (or white and Latina, reported the New York Times), wrote in the book's author's note about Mexican migrants, "At worst, we perceive them as an invading mob of resource-draining criminals, and, at best, a sort of helpless, impoverished, faceless brown mass, clamoring for help at our doorstep," adding, "We seldom think of them as our fellow human beings." She also wrote, "I worried that, as a nonmigrant and non-Mexican, I had no business writing a book set almost entirely in Mexico, set entirely among migrants. I wished someone slightly browner than me would write it." Cacophonous voices across the internet threw up alarm bells.

Hayek bows to woke fans

The outlet said that a day after Hayek posted her Instagram message, she deleted it. The actress — who's from Mexico — then posted an apology to her woke fans:

"Yesterday, I posted a message about a book which I removed from my Instagram," Hayek began. "I want to say to all of you that I got very excited when Oprah shared with me her pick for her book club because in the description of the book I learned that it was the story of a Mexican woman, so I rushed into sharing my excitement with you."

Hayek added: "I confess, I have not read it and was not aware of any kind of controversy. I thank all of you who caught me in the act of not doing my research, and for setting me straight, because that means you know me and gave me the benefit of the doubt; and I apologize for shouting out something without experiencing it or doing research on it."

Yahoo Celebrity said Oprah hasn't commented on the controversy.

Now there's backlash about the backlash

While it's predictable that a mass call-out of Hayek from the more highly evolved among us would occur, it stands to reason that a bunch of folks catching wind of the controversy and the actress' apology might say enough is enough: And that's just what happened.

Here's a collection of the more pointed Yahoo Celebrity comments in that vein:

• "The PC police strike again. Half the books in a library would banned if the woke folks had their way."
• "People born after around 1993 need a huge reality check."
• "So an author can no longer describe the characters features anymore. Don't you love books for drawing a mental image. I'm writing a book called, 'Person in a Country.'"
• "So she's been 'schooled' by the 'clap-backs' so now she's properly 'Woke'?"
• "People can write about what they want, if people don't like it, don't read it. I just bought the book yesterday. Great book."
• "I read the article twice thinking I missed something, but I didn't. I am confused, so can someone please explain to me what exactly are we supposed to offended about?"
• "In other words, Hayek is thanking the PC crowd for making up her mind for her so she doesn't fall out of lock-step."
• "Sounds like the woke crowd is eager to get back to that time honored tradition of book burning. Their lack of self awareness, rage, and inauthenticity is truly frightening!"