Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón is not expected among the attendees for the BAFTA Film Awards after her racially insensitive X/Twitter posts were uncovered.
Gascón is nominated for Leading Actress at the BAFTAs but is not on a guest list for the night, suggesting that the transgender Spanish performer will skip Sunday’s ceremony. She was the first openly trans actress to be nominated for a BAFTA Film Award.
Gascón has already missed the Critics Choice Awards, PGA Awards, and the Goya Awards, but the BAFTAs is arguably the highest-profile event she will not attend. Netflix and her reps did not respond to requests for comment.
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Other Emilia Pérez nominees, including Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez (both competing for Supporting Actress), are expected to be in London for the Royal Festival Hall event. Saldaña and Gomez will also present a prize.
In a statement last week, Gascón effectively withdrew from the awards trail, saying that she wanted to let the work do the talking. Gascón said she hopes “my silence will allow the film to be appreciated for what it is,” adding: “I sincerely apologize to everyone who has been hurt along the way.”
It follows Gascón’s controversial social media posts being unearthed by journalist Sarah Hagi last month, exploding a campaign in which the actress was expected to make history as a transgender award-winner for her role as a transitioning drug lord in Emilia Pérez.
Gascón wrote that Islam was a “hotbed of infection for humanity,” described George Floyd as a “drug addict swindler” and said that the 2021 Oscars were an “ugly” “Afro-Korean festival” after triumphs for Minari and Judas and the Black Messiah.
Elsewhere, Gascón pondered that she does not “understand so much about the world war against Hitler, he simply had his opinion about Jews,” and regularly used a Spanish word that translates as “faggot” in English.
BAFTA Film Awards Guest List
Other nominees expected to attend the BAFTA Film Awards include Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo for Wicked, Timothée Chalamet for A Complete Unknown, and Colman Domingo for Sing Sing.
Guest presenters will include Mark Hamill, who could play a role in giving Star Wars co-star Warwick Davis his BAFTA Fellowship. Pamela Anderson and Lupita Nyong’o will also hand out prizes. Performers on the night will include Take That and Jeff Goldblum, who will play piano for the In Memoriam section.
Here’s the full list of guest presenters: Adam Pearson, Adam Scott, Anna Kendrick, Camila Cabello, Celia Imrie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Colman Domingo, Gwendoline Christie, Hannah John-Kamen, Isabella Rossellini, James McAvoy, James Norton, Jessie Eisenberg, Joe Alwyn, Letitia Wright, Leo Woodall, Lupita Nyong’o, Marisa Abela, Marisa Tomei, Mark Hamill, Michelle Monaghan, Naomi Ackie, Orlando Bloom, Pamela Anderson, Ralph Fiennes, Simon Pegg, Shazad Latif, Stephen Merchant, Thomasin McKenzie, Vanessa Kirby, Vanessa Williams, Will Poulter, Will Sharpe, Tom Felton, Wunmi Mosaku.
David Tennant is hosting the BAFTA Film Awards for the second consecutive year. The ceremony will be broadcast on Sunday, February 16, at 7pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
The post ‘Emilia Pérez’ Star Karla Sofía Gascón Not Expected To Attend BAFTA Film Awards; Guest Presenters Will Include Mark Hamill & Pamela Anderson appeared first on Deadline.
