The saga of scandals from Emilia Perez continues
Transgender Actress Karla Sofía Gascón of “Emelia Perez” lands herself in hot water after making past inflammatory tweets degrading George Floyd, Muslim Arabs, Chinese peoples and the Academy Awards.
By: Rachel Meatte
The film “Emilia Perez” is having a tough time after a long slew of scandals and mixed reviews from both critics and fans alike. Critiques range from sub-par acting to negative stereotypes of Hispanic individuals and transgender people.
The film has caught heat from an array of voices, yet is now the first non-American film to hold the record of the most Academy Award nominations. This was after a big win at the Golden Globes, taking home four of the ten nominations it received.
The film follows the story of a Mexican lawyer played by Zoe Saldaña, who is offered a job to help a notorious cartel boss Juan (Manitas) Del Monte retire and transition into living a more authentic life as a woman. Monte is played by Karla Sofía Gascón, who becomes Emilia Perez. Nothing could predict the fallout just a few weeks ago, when journalist Sarah Hagi, unearthed old tweets from Gascón, who made derogatory tweets about Muslims, George Floyd and the Oscars.
In a variety article published on Jan. 31, Gascón stated on Nov. 22, 2020, “I’m Sorry, is it just my impression or is there more Muslims in Spain? 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. Next year instead of English we’ll have to teach Arabic.”
The article also revealed that on Sept. 2, 2020 she posted a photo of a Muslim family in a restaurant including a woman wearing a burka. The caption read “Islam is marvelous, without any machismo. Women are respected, and when they are so respected they are left with a little squared hole on their faces for their eyes to be visible and their mouths, but only if she behaves. Although they dress this way for their own enjoyment. How DEEPLY DISGUSTING OF HUMANITY.”
Another tweet from August 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, read “The Chinese vaccine, apart from the mandatory chip, comes with two spring rolls, a cat that moves its hand, 2 plastic flowers, a pop-up lantern, 3 telephone lines and one euro for your first controlled purchase.”
Gascón then referred to the Academy Awards as a “ceremony for independent and protest films,” and that she “didn’t know if she was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M.” Amongst other problematic tweets, she also called for “a ban of religions that go against European values.”
The backlash was swift as several social media users rejected her statements and people criticized her posts, calling her racist and Islamophobic. Gascón quickly deleted the controversial tweets and wrote a statement to Vulture.
“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.”
The damage was done, as within 24 hours of the controversy beginning, Gascón deactivated her X account and released another statement to The Hollywood Reporter, explaining her reason for closing the account.
“I’m sorry, but I can no longer allow this campaign of hate and misinformation to affect me and my family, so at their request I am closing my account on X. I have been threatened with death, insulted, abused and harassed to the point of exhaustion. I have a wonderful daughter to protect, whom I love madly and who supports me in everything.”
The Spanish actor also wrote a 2018 biographical novel but was dropped by the Spanish publishing company, Dos Bigotes, after they condemned Gascón’s tweets. The tides have turned so severely that Netflix is distancing itself from Gascón and will now shift its focus on the lead actor, Zoe Saldaña instead, according to sources from Netflix.
The Rolling Stones wrote an article stating that Netflix is no longer communicating directly with Gascón and will no longer cover any of her expenses related to travel and styling for award shows. Gascón was also cut from the film’s marketing, including emails and ad-reads for the awards season. Her image was also removed from some billboards, which will soon feature her co-stars instead.
Despite being the first openly transgender actress to be nominated for an Academy Award, the scandal is now tarnishing any good deed the film’s progressive impact had on the industry. The Director of the film, Jacques Audiard responded to the controversy in an interview with Deadline, stating that he is frustrated with Gascón’s past actions and how they impacted the rest of the cast.
“I haven’t spoken to her, and I don’t want to. She is in a self-destructive approach that I can’t interfere in, and I really don’t understand why she’s continuing. Why is she harming herself? Why? When you have that kind of relationship and suddenly you read something that that person has said, things that are absolutely hateful and worthy of being hated, of course that relationship is affected, I’m not getting in touch with her because right now she needs space to reflect and take accountability for her actions.”
Gascón responded to the director’s comments in an Instagram post, saying that she will be silent for what is assumed to be the remainder of the film’s marketing campaign.
Gascón, who had a plethora of interviews and marketing, or award events planned for the year, has completely withdrawn herself from the spotlight. The Goya awards, Spain’s main national film awards ceremony, did nominate “Emilia Perez” for the best European film and won.
However, Gascón didn’t attend and instead, Director Audiard went on stage to accept the award, thanking the cast and crew and asking the hate for Gascón to “ease up.”
While the film has a strong progressive message and inclusive cast, the combination of criticism and the scandal of Gascón’s unearthed tweets may have completely shot down any chance of this film making a lasting impact on the industry.
The film, which is nominated for 13 Academy Awards, may still come out as the big winner, but considering the past few weeks, it’s more difficult to say what will occur.
Gascón hasn’t commented on whether she will attend Hollywood’s biggest night, but other actors and actresses are expected to attend.
