Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón might have made Oscar history as the first trans woman to be nominated for Best Actress. But now, she’s making waves for some suspect social media posts from her past.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gascón’s tweets have caught up with her, and X users have been screenshotting Gascón’s posts, possibly before they get deleted. According to the article, Gascón wrote about the 2020 murder of George Floyd, stating (in Spanish), “Let me get this straight, a guy tries to pass off a counterfeit bill after consuming methamphetamine, an idiot policeman arrives and goes too far in arresting him, killing him, ruining the lives of his family and his colleagues, and turning the guy with the bill into a martyr hero.”
“I truly believe that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict and a hustler,” she continued, “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 also tweeted in 2020 about Spain’s Muslim population, even going as far as to suggest a ban for the country.
“Sorry, is it just my impression or are there more and more Muslims in Spain?” she wrote. “Every time I go to pick up my daughter from school there are more women with their hair covered and their skirts down to their heels. Maybe next year instead of English we’ll have to teach Arabic.”
“Until we ban religions that go against European values and violate human rights, such as Islam, under the protection of freedom of worship, we will not end part of the huge problem we face,” she continued. “Faith manipulates those who cling to faith.”
Other tweets include tirades against:
Oscars Diversity:
Anti-COVID and Anti-Chinese sentiments:
A full round-up can be found in the tweet below:
After the tweets came out, she issued an apology to Variety, stating “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.”
Gascón’s tweets were rediscovered as part of X users’ online retaliation against unsubstantiated rumors Gascon said to a Brazilian newspaper.
In her interview, she opened up about her theory that online groups are trying to smear her and the Emilia Pérez cast and crew, she alluded to a belief that people are trying to “tear down” her film to uplift Fernanda Torres’ Oscar-nominated entry I’m Still Here. Gascon said in part, “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.”
Gascón and Netflix haven’t responded to The Hollywood Reporter’s request for comment, but the viewing public certainly has given their two cents, with users surprised that Gascón’s team didn’t clean out her X account before the Oscars campaign. Others have also pointed out other problematic tweets she’s made in her past, including more calls for the West to invade Muslim-majority countries (whose citizens she called “infidels) as well as her use of the word “gentuza” when referring to Indigenous Mexicans, which one X user wrote means “lesser people” or “people who have little importance.” X users also tagged the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences about how they feel Gascón’s tweets violate the organization’s rules of disparaging other nominees. The Academy responded saying that Gascón hasn’t broken any rules.
The only statement Gascón has given is with regards to what she said in her newspaper interview about Torres. Gascón told Variety in a statement, “I am an enormous fan of Fernanda Torres and it has been wonderful getting to know her in the past few months. In my recent comments, I was referencing the toxicity and violent hate speech on social media that I sadly continue to experience. Fernanda has been a wonderful ally, and no one directly associated with her has been anything but supportive and hugely generous.”
