The Oscar race for best actress is getting nasty, with Karla Sofia Gascón — the first transgender performer ever nominated for an Academy Award — accusing the team behind a rival nominee of launching a smear campaign.
Netflix’s Emilia Pérez breakout star Karla Sofia Gascón pointed the finger at the team behind Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres, the star of the political thriller I’m Still Here.
“I don’t like that there’s a social media team that works around these people that are attempting to discredit my work and my film because that doesn’t take us anywhere,” Gascón told the Brazilian outlet Folha de São Paulo, according to multiple reports.
“To highlight someone else’s work, you don’t need to destroy others. You will never see me talking negatively about Fernanda Torres or her film, but on the contrary, I do see many people working around Fernanda Torres who talk badly about me, and Emilia Pérez. I think that speaks more about them and their film than of me.”
Gascón later issued a quasi-clarification, calling Torres a “wonderful ally.”
“I am an enormous fan of Fernanda Torres and it has been wonderful getting to know her the past few months,” Gascón said in a statement to Variety.
“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.”
Emilia Pérez is the frontrunner heading into the March 2 Academy Awards, receiving the most nominations of any movie at 13, including best picture.
The Netflix release is an unconventional musical that ttells the story of a cartel boss (Gascón) who attempts to exit the drug trade by undergoing a sex-change operation. The French-produced, mostly Spanish-language movie also stars Zoe Saldana, who received a supporting actress nomination, and pop star Selena Gomez.
While Hollywood has embraced Emilia Pérez , the LGBTQ community has been less effusive, with organizations including GLAAD criticizing the movie for its portrayal of transgenderism.
GLAAD said the movie features a “profoundly retrograde portrayal of a trans woman,” adding that it represents a “step backward for trans representation.”
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