Selena Gomez says ‘some of the magic has disappeared’ after ‘Emilia Pérez’ controversy
In her first public comments since bigoted social media posts from Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón resurfaced online, Selena Gomez acknowledged “some of the magic has disappeared” from the Oscar-nominated film.
Speaking at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Sunday night where she received the event’s Virtuoso Award, Gomez was asked by moderator Dave Karger how she was doing amid so much turmoil around Emilia Pérez.
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“It has been a time. You have been through it. I just feel like you and this movie have been under this microscope for good, for not-so-good, for all of these reasons. I just want to know, how are you? How are you doing right now?” Karger asked.
After taking a beat, Gomez responded. “I’m good. I’m really good,” she said with some obvious emotion in her voice. “Some of the magic has disappeared, but I choose to continue to be proud of what I’ve done. I’m just grateful. I live with no regrets and I would do this movie over and over again if I could.”
Her answer drew loud applause from the crowd.
Gomez did not mention Gascón by name during the brief conversation. But she did express gratitude to writer-director Jacques Audiard for giving her a chance in the first place. “Just having someone see something in me besides the obvious was such a special experience,” Gomez said. “The director just really trusted me, and I was so grateful because I’ve gotten to show people that I am capable of doing more. I hope this is just the beginning for me in this field.”
Emilia Pérez led all films with 13 Oscar nominations this year, including Best Picture. But its campaign to win the top prize at the Academy Awards was derailed by Gascón, the film’s star when several offensive social media posts she wrote in the last five years went viral. In response to the outrage, Gascón attempted to contextualize her inflammatory posts, which included outrageous comments about Muslims, George Floyd, and purportedly even Gomez (whom Gascón allegedly called a “rich rat” in a post; Gascón denied the authenticity of that post — with several statements. But none defused the situation and arguably made things worse. As a result, key Emilia Pérez creative team members — including Audiard and Zoe Salda?a — distanced themselves from the actress.
“I haven’t spoken to her, and I don’t want to. She is in a self-destructive approach that I can’t interfere in, and I really don’t understand why she’s continuing. Why is she harming herself? Why? I don’t understand it, and what I don’t understand about this too is why she’s harming people who were very close to her,” Audiard told Deadline. “I’m thinking in this thing of how hurting others, of how she’s hurting the crew and all these people who worked so incredibly hard on this film. I’m thinking of myself, I’m thinking of Zoe [Salda?a] and Selena [Gomez]. I just don’t understand why she’s continuing to harm us.”
After Audiard’s interview, Gascón vowed to step back from the spotlight.
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