Karla Sofía Gascón, star of the film “Emilia Pérez” and the first openly transgender person to receive an acting nomination at the Oscars, is facing significant backlash after old tweets surfaced, revealing troubling opinions on various subjects, including Islam and George Floyd. The Spanish actor has since deleted several tweets after users, including writer Sarah Hagi, uncovered them.
In her tweets, originally in Spanish, Gascón referred to George Floyd as a “martyr hero” weeks after his death. She wrote, “I truly believe that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict and a hustler, but his death has served to highlight once again that there are those who still consider Black people to be monkeys without rights and those who consider the police to be murderers. All wrong.” She added that the issue was more about social classes feeling threatened by each other rather than racism.
In November 2020, she commented on the increasing number of Muslims in Spain, expressing discomfort about seeing more women with covered hair and long skirts. Gascón wrote, “Maybe next year instead of English we’ll have to teach Arabic.”
Further tweets included calls to ban religions that she believed went against European values and violated human rights, specifically targeting Islam. She described Islam as “a hotbed for infection for humanity that urgently need to be cured.”
Gascón also criticized the Oscars after the 2021 ceremony, writing, “I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala.”
Gascón has not publicly commented on the backlash, nor has Netflix, which bought “Emilia Pérez” soon after its release. She did, however, make headlines for criticizing the social media team of her fellow best actress Oscar nominee, Fernanda Torres. Gascón stated in an interview, “I have never, at any point, said anything bad about Fernanda Torres or her movie. However, there are people working with Fernanda Torres tearing me and Emilia Pérez down. That speaks more about their movie than mine.” She later clarified that her comments were not an attack on Torres but rather on the “toxicity and violent hate speech on social media.”
“Emilia Pérez,” which has been nominated for 13 Oscars, a record for a film not in the English language, tells the story of a cartel boss transitioning into a woman. Despite its critical acclaim, the film has faced criticism from the LGBTQ+ community and in Mexico, where it is set. Advocacy group Glaad described the film as “a profoundly retrograde portrayal of a trans woman” and “a step backward” for representation. The film has also been accused of perpetuating Mexican stereotypes.
French director Jacques Audiard apologized for any offense caused by the film, saying, “If there are things that seem shocking in Emilia Pérez then I am sorry … Cinema doesn’t provide answers, it only asks questions. But maybe the questions in Emilia Pérez are incorrect.”
The controversy surrounding Karla Sofía Gascón’s tweets and the criticism of “Emilia Pérez” highlight the complexities of public opinion and representation in the film industry. As the discourse continues, both Gascón and the film’s creators face the challenge of addressing the backlash and promoting a more inclusive and respectful narrative.
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