Karla Sofia Gascón apologizes after intense backlash for old social media posts about Muslims, George Floyd
Less than one day after becoming embroiled in a social media tempest over comments made about Fernanda Torres, Emilia Pérez star and Best Actress nominee Karla Sofia Gascón is now under fire for old social media posts about Islam and George Floyd, among other hot-button topics.
In one since-deleted post from Sept. 2, 2020, Gascón wrote, “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.” Alongside her comments, as translated by Variety, among other outlets, Gascón included a photo of a Muslim family.
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“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,” read another since-deleted post from Gascón’s Twitter/X account published on Nov. 22, 2020.
Regarding Floyd, whose murder on May 25, 2020, sparked global Black Lives Matter protests, Gascón wrote, “Let me get this straight, a guy tries to pass off a counterfeit bill after consuming methamphetamine, an idiot policeman arrives and goes too far in arresting him, killing him, ruining the lives of his family and his colleagues, and turning the guy with the bill into a martyr hero. I truly believe that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict and a hustler, but his death has served to highlight once again that there are those who still consider Black people to be monkeys without rights and those who consider the police to be murderers. All wrong.”
In another post about the 2021 Oscars ceremony, Gascon wrote, “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. They forgot to give an award to my cousin’s short film, who is lame.” That year’s winners included Nomadland (Best Picture), Chloé Zhao (Best Director for Nomadland), Youn Yuh-jung (Best Supporting Actress for Minari), and Daniel Kaluuya (Best Supporting Actor for Judas and the Black Messiah).
Late in the day on Thursday, the actress released an apology for the comments via Netflix. “I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt,” Gascón said. “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.”
Earlier in the day, after a journalist resurfaced the posts, Gascón was castigated online, with even one press member advocating for the Academy to not give the Emilia Pérez actress an award due to her comments. The Netflix film led all movies this year with 13 Oscar nominations, the most ever for a non-English film, including a historic Best Actress bid for Gascón, the first openly trans woman nominated for Best Actress. It is among the lead contenders for Best Picture. If Emilia Pérez were to win the Academy’s top prize, it would be only the second non-English language film to triumph in the category and the first Netflix movie to receive the Best Picture award.
This is the latest controversy around Gascón that sent shockwaves through the discourse. On Wednesday, the actress was forced to clarify comments about fellow Best Actress nominee Fernanda Torres. In an interview conducted on Jan. 21, before the Oscar nominations were announced, Gascón spoke out about the social media backlash she has received, suggesting that “people working with” Torres were “tearing” Gascón and the Netflix film “down.”
“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. You don’t need to tear down someone’s work to highlight another’s,” Gascón said in Spanish (as translated by Variety). “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.”
While she praised Torres’s performance, many online found the comments disqualifying and suggested Gascón had broken Academy rules. She hadn’t because her comments weren’t disparaging Torres’s work, but Gascón released a statement explaining her remarks. “I am an enormous fan of Fernanda Torres, and it has been wonderful getting to know her over the past few months,” Gascón said in a statement obtained by Gold Derby. “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.”
This post has been updated to include Gascón’s statement.
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