- The backlash against “Emilia Pérez” has turned to its star Karla Sofía Gascón after old tweets were resurfaced.
- Fans highlighted negative tweets that appear to have been posted by Gascón as recently as 2021.
- “Emilia Pérez,” the Oscars frontrunner, has faced criticism for its portrayals of Mexico and trans people.
Karla Sofía Gascón, the star of “Emilia Pérez,” is under fire for comments and past tweets following claims the most-nominated film this award season has problematic portrayals of Mexico and transgender people.
Critics and fans of “Emilia Pérez,” which won 4 Golden Globes and received 13 Oscar nominations, have voiced their opinions about the film on social media. Some say it’s boring, and others say it portrays transphobic stereotypes.
Gascón, who became the first out trans woman to be nominated for an Oscar for her role in “Emilia Pérez,” has been one of the film’s main defenders.
On Tuesday, the Brazilian publication Folha de S.Paulo published a video interview in which Gascón criticized people who were tearing her down to support Fernanda Torres, one of her competitors for the best-actress Oscar.
In response, some sought to have Gascón disqualified from the Oscars, accusing her of breaking an Academy rule prohibiting those involved with a film from sharing public communication that casts a competing movie in a “negative or derogatory light.”
Netflix
Variety reported on Wednesday that Gascón didn’t break the rule because she didn’t comment on Torres’ performance in “I’m Still Here.”
On Thursday, the Canadian journalist Sarah Hagi shared screenshots on X of posts that appeared to have been made by Gascón. Business Insider couldn’t verify all the screenshots, and some posts seem to have been deleted.
The screenshots contained disparaging remarks about Muslims and Islam.
The posts were written in Spanish but translated through Google by Hagi. This sparked more social media users to search for and share screenshots of other posts that appear to be from Gascón.
Gascón wrote in other posts, seen by BI, that all religions should be banned. In a post from 2020, the actor referred to the COVID-19 vaccine as “the Chinese vaccine” and said it had a chip inside it.
Variety reported that in a post shared in 2021, Gascón referred to the Oscars ceremony that year as an “Afro-Korean festival” and “ugly, ugly gala.” That year Daniel Kaluuya, a Black British actor, and Yuh-jung Youn, a South Korean actor, both won Oscars.
Gascón has now deleted her X account.
On Thursday, Gascón shared a statement with several outlets after the posts resurfaced: “I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt. As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.”
Some are still calling on the Academy to retract Gascón’s Oscar nomination despite the apology.
Representatives for Netflix, Gascón, and the Academy didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from BI.
