“Emilia Pérez” star Karla Sofía Gascón has gone dark in one corner of the internet after a series of her insensitive past remarks about Muslims, Islam, George Floyd and more recirculated this week.
Gascón deactivated her X (formerly Twitter) account Friday after issuing an apology for those remarks, which she said “have caused hurt.” She had also shared the statement on X, according the Hollywood Reporter. The “Emilia Pérez” breakout, who stars as the controversial film’s titular, redemption-seeking transgender cartel boss, faced backlash after Canadian writer Sarah Hagi resurfaced tweets dating from 2016 to 2023. In the tweets, Gascón spoke negatively of Muslims’ clothing, language and culture in her home country of Spain. She also suggested banning Islam.
Additionally, Gascón caught heat this week for resurfaced comments about the 2020 killing of George Floyd, the ensuing racial reckoning, the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19-era Academy Awards ceremony in 2021. She addressed the tweets Thursday in a statement via Netflix.
“As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain,” Gascón wrote. “All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.”
As of Friday morning, users hoping to visit Gascón’s X page, @karsiagascon, aren’t able to see her tweets, including the reported apology. Instead they will see a largely blank page with a message noting “This account doesn’t exist.”
A representative for Gascón did not immediately respond Friday to The Times’ request for comment.
Less than a day after apologizing, Gascón confirmed in a lengthy statement to THR that she had shut down her X account, writing, “I can no longer allow this campaign of hate and misinformation to affect neither my family nor me anymore.” The Spanish actor, 52, wrote that she received death threats and was harassed, explained she “always used my social media as a diary,” and offered another apology for people offended by her posts.
“I am a human being who also made, makes and will make mistakes from which I will learn,” she wrote in the statement, which THR translated from Spanish to English. “I am not perfect. Taking my words out of context or manipulating them to hurt me is something I am not responsible for.”
This week Gascón also faced backlash for criticizing the online campaign of fellow lead actress Oscar nominee Fernanda Torres.
In a recent interview, Gascón accused “people working with” Brazilian actor Torres of “tearing me and ‘Emilia Pérez’ down.” She later clarified her comments, noting she is an “enormous fan” of the “I’m Still Here” actor and saying she instead was “referencing the toxicity and violent hate speech” she faces on social media, according to People.
Clearly, the road the 2025 Oscars in March has been a rocky one for frontrunner “Emilia Pérez.” The film, from French director Jacques Audiard, received 13 nominations, the most in this year’s crop of Oscar hopefuls. Gascón made Oscars history as the first transgender woman to be nominated in an acting category while Audiard earned a directing nomination and Zoe Saldaña a supporting actress nod. “Emilia Pérez” is also up for the marquee picture prize.
The musical-drama also has faced backlash for its depiction of a transgender character, alleged use of artificial intelligence and its director’s “didn’t study much” apathy toward the Mexican culture at its core.
“In the end, ‘Emilia Pérez’ is a wannabe ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ that replaces humor and genius with hubris and guns,” Times columnist Gustavo Arellano wrote.
He added, “No wonder the film nabbed so many Oscar nominations: Academy members are always going to want their cinematic Mexico to be a pitiable hellhole in need of salvation and a reminder to change its errant ways, a trope that goes back to the days of Manifest Destiny.”
Times columnist Glenn Whipp and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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