Karla Sofía Gascón's 'Racist' Scandal Explained — As 'Emilia Pérez' Actress is 'Canceled' After Shocking Social Media Posts Resurface Amid Oscar Campaign
Karla Sofia Gascon is dealing with the fallout from her controversial posts.
Feb. 19 2025, Published 9:30 p.m. ET
Nominations for the 2025 Academy Awards Are Announced
The nominations were delayed twice due to the Los Angeles wildfires.
After being delayed twice due to the ravaging wildfires in the Los Angeles area, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences finally rolled out the Oscar nominations for the 2025 Academy Awards on January 23.
Netflix's crime musical Emilia Pérez raked in the most nominations. With 13 total, it almost tied the record of Titanic, All About Eve, and La La Land, which all received 14 nominations each.
Actress Karla Sofía Gascón made headlines as she became the first transgender woman to be nominated in an acting category at the Oscars. The other stars vying for the Best Actress award are Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Mikey Madison (Anora), Demi Moore (The Substance) and Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here).
Gascón's Past Social Media Posts Resurface
Gascón became the first openly transgender performer to score an Academy Award nomination in an acting category.
Days after the full list of nominees was revealed, a writer named Sarah Hagi shared screenshots of Gascón's social media posts between 2016 and 2021 in a series of tweets.
In the controversial posts, many of which were deleted after they reemerged, the Spanish actress criticized George Floyd, the Muslim community, and the Oscars.
One 2016 tweet, translated from Spanish by Variety, 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."
Gascón also talked about Floyd and his 2020 brutal death following a police encounter.
"Honestly, I think that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict swindler, but his death has served to once again demonstrate that there are people who still consider Black people to be … without rights and consider policemen to be assassins. They're all wrong," she wrote.
In another tweet, Gascón lambasted the Academy Awards for holding the 2021 ceremony after the COVID-19 pandemic, saying: "More and more the Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films, I didn't know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala."
Gascón Apologizes for Controversial Posts
She got the Best Actress nomination for her performance in the Netflix drama 'Emilia Pérez.'
Gascón issued an apology after her tweets resurfaced, saying she wanted "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," her statement provided to CNN read.
Gascón and Another Controversy
Gascón clarified the statement she made in a separate controversy.
Before the resurfaced tweets, Gascón received a public dressing-down after she criticized online campaigns which, as she believed, attacked her and her film.
"What I don't like are social media teams — people who work with these people — trying to diminish our work, like me and my movie, because that doesn't lead anywhere," Gascón told a Brazilian newspaper on January 21.
She explained: "You don't need to tear down someone's work to highlight another's. 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."
On the other hand, Gascón quickly explained her stance, assuring she is an "enormous fan" of Torres.
"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," she told Variety.
She Deleted Her Social Media Page
The star received extreme backlash for the social media posts.
On January 30, Gascón deleted her X account hours after apologizing for her past controversial tweets.
Netflix's Reaction to Scandal
Netflix will reportedly shift focus to Gascón's costars instead.
In early February, sources told Variety and The Hollywood Reporter that Netflix dropped Gascón and decided not to cover her awards shows' expenses after her offensive posts went viral.
Gascón was scheduled to attend several award shows in the U.S., including the Critics' Choice Awards, the Producers Guild of America Awards, and the Directors Guild of America.
RadarOnline.com later confirmed she skipped the Critics' Choice Awards, where she was nominated for the Best Actress award for her Emilia Pérez performance. She, however, won the Best Song prize for the Emilia Pérez track El Mal.
Gascón Declars She Will Not Withdraw Her Oscar Nomination
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She said she has 'not committed any crime.'
Despite the scandal, Gascón announced she decided to push through with her Oscars race ahead of the March 2 ceremony.
"I cannot step down from an Oscar nomination because I have not committed any crime nor have I harmed anyone," she said in a televised interview with CNN.
She added: "I am neither racist nor anything that all these people have tried to make others believe I am."
Her Costars Comment on the Controversy
Selena Gomez and Zoë Saldaña broke their silence amid their costar's scandal.
As the backlash grew, Gascón's Emilia Pérez costars addressed the controversy, though some avoided direct comments about her.
Selena Gomez appeared in a Q&A at the Santa Barbara Film Festival on February 9, during which she said "some of the magic has disappeared."
The Only Murders in the Building actress continued: "But I choose to continue to be proud of what I've done and I'm just grateful. I live with no regrets, and I would do this movie over and over again if I could."
Gascon also attracted attention when a viral tweet showed her calling Gomez "a rich rat," though she has since denied writing the post in an interview with CNN Español.
Meanwhile, Zoë Saldaña said she was still processing what happened, adding: "It makes me really sad because I don't support and I don't have any tolerance for any negative rhetoric towards people of any group."
