All About the Karla Sofía Gascón Controversial Posts That Sparked Media Mayhem Before the 2025 Oscars

On Sunday, March 5, Zoe Saldaña warmed everyone’s hearts on the 2025 Oscars stage as she accepted her first Academy Award for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ in the 2024 crime musical “Emilia Pérez.” However, amid the joyous moment, the uproar surrounding the film’s lead continued to loom. Here’s what you need to know about the Karla Sofía Gascón controversial posts that have flooded many headlines.

As you may know, Gascón and Saldaña starred in French filmmaker Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” a Spanish dramedy based on Audiard’s opera libretto of the same name and a chapter of the 2018 novel “Écoute” by author Boris Razon. The blockbuster follows a Mexican cartel boss, Emilia Pérez (portrayed by Gascón), who faked their death to undergo gender-affirming surgery to transition into a woman and start a new life with the help of an attorney, Rita Mora Castro (Saldaña).

The release of “Emilia Pérez” proved quite contentious, as critics were left unhappy about the Mexican-themed production being shot (primarily) in France (per The Hollywood Reporter) and not featuring anyone in top roles of that very culture. Additionally, even though played by transgender actress Gascón, the LGBTQIA+ organization GLAAD stated they felt the Netflix streamer was “not a good trans representation.” According to the non-profit, “Emilia Pérez” served as a “step backward” for the community, as it “poorly” depicted the reality for those who have experienced the life-altering procedure.

“Emilia Pérez’s screenplay is so cisgender it’s almost satirical,” PinkNews’ Amelia Hansford voiced in a review. In another part of her article, she added: “What’s immediately frustrating is that Emilia Pérez exudes a kind of confidence that’s almost nauseatingly sure of itself when it shouldn’t be. For example, lumping breast augmentation and nose jobs in with bottom surgery, or having Castro physically recoil at the effects that hormones have had on Pérez’s body, or when [her] daughter says she smells ‘like a man.'”

Aside from the pushback, “Emilia Pérez” received 13 Oscar nominations (including a ‘Best Actress’ nod for Gascón, won by “Anora” star Mikey Madison). But… Gascón’s recent scandal nearly overshadowed most of the flick’s awards season.

Despite not walking the red carpet, the 52-year-old still happily occupied a seat in the ceremony’s audience.

What Happened Regarding the Karla Sofía Gascón Controversial Posts

X (formerly Twitter) went up in flames when journalist Sarah Hagi took to the platform to air out comments previously made from Gascón’s account around 2020 to 2021. The resurfaced posts saw the Spain native spewing (seemingly) “racist” and “Islamophobic” verbiage about the murder of George Floyd (who was brutally killed at the hands of a police officer in 2020) and Muslims.

“It’s so insane that Karla Sofía Gascón still has these tweets up. [I] straight up have never seen tweets this racist from someone actively campaigning to win an ACADEMY AWARD. There are more than a dozen,” Hagi wrote, attaching photos of the now-deleted statements.

In one of the translated remarks from the now-deactivated profile, Gascón expressed, “Islam is becoming a hotbed of infection for humanity that urgently needs to be cured.” She sarcastically furthered in another screenshot: “Islam is wonderful, without any kind of sexism. Women are respected, and when they are respected a lot, they leave a little square on their face so that their eyes and mouth can be seen, but only if they behave well. Although they dress like that for pleasure. What a DEEP DISGUSTING HUMANITY.”

The “El Señor de los Cielos” trouper’s opinions on the people of Islam only expanded in other dug-up posts. She continued on the social networking site, “Is it just my impression, or are there more and 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. Maybe next year instead of English we’ll have to teach Arabic… and a lamb.”

[MORE POSTS ENCLOSED HERE]

Per Variety, days after Floyd’s tragic death, she said in a thread, “I really 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 monkeys without rights and consider policemen to be assassins. They’re all wrong.”

Gascón continued: “Too many things to reflect on regarding the behavior of our species every time an event occurs. Perhaps it is no longer a question of racism but of social classes that feel threatened by each other. Maybe that’s the only real difference.”

She also was said to have referred to the Oscars as an “Afro-Korean Festival,” “Black Lives Matter demonstration,” and “ugly gala” in her past online rants. The outlet highlighted her prejudiced COVID-19 joke about “Chinese vaccines” coming with “two spring rolls” and “a cat” around the pandemic era as well.

Karla Sofía Gascón’s Apology + Co-Stars’ Responses to the Debacle

Page Six reported that Gascón and her “Emilia Pérez” cast mate Selena Gomez (who acted as Jessi Del Monte, Gascón’s character’s wife before the transition) had an “awkward reunion” at this year’s Oscars.  This comes after one of Gascón’s uber-opinionated posts, where she (allegedly) called Gomez a “rich rat” who will “never stop bothering” her ex, Justin Bieber, and his wife, Hailey, in 2022. The ladies shared cordial cheek kisses and went on about their night, but tension was reportedly evident.

In a statement to CNN in early February, Gascón apologized to those she may have caused pain. She cited, “I want to address the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused harm. As a member of 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.”

When speaking with CNN’s Juan Carlos Arciniegas, Gascón doubled down, “I have been judged, condemned, sacrificed, crucified, and stoned without a trial and without the option to defend myself.”

Throughout the emotional sit-down, she denied writing the message about Gomez. “I have never said anything about my colleague. I would never refer to her that way,” she told the news giant.

Gascón’s “Emilia Pérez” family spoke of the matter separately:

Zoe Saldaña (via The Hollywood Reporter):

“I’m still processing everything that has transpired in the last couple of days. It makes me really sad because I don’t support [it], and I don’t have any tolerance for any negative rhetoric towards people of any group. I can only attest to the experience that I had with each and every individual that was a part, that is a part, of this film, and my experience and my interactions with them were about inclusivity and collaboration and racial, cultural, and gender equity.”

Jacques Audiard (via Deadline):

“It’s very hard for me to think back to the work I did with Karla Sofía. The trust we shared and the exceptional atmosphere that we had on the set that was indeed based on trust. And when you have that kind of relationship and suddenly you read something that that person has said, things that are absolutely hateful and worthy of being hated, of course, that relationship is affected. It’s as if you fall into a hole. Because what Karla Sofía said is inexcusable.”

Selena Gomez (via LA Times):

“Some of the magic has disappeared, but I choose to continue to be proud of what I’ve done, and I’m just grateful. I live with no regrets. I would do this movie over and over again if I could.”

While some respected Gascón’s apology, it didn’t go over so well with others. An X user noted, “All I’m constantly hearing from the Emilia Pérez camp is ‘me me me.’ No actual acknowledgement or apology towards all the people who Karla Sofía Gascón was spreading hateful and racist ideology about. ‘We worked so hard on this awards campaign.’ Literally f*ck off.”

Another individual pressed: “Karla Sofía did not apologize. She played the victim and blamed others for her ‘tragedy’ – that is not an apology. She knows that her career was ruined but her arrogance prevents her from accepting that she sank alone.”

What are your thoughts on this situation? Let us know in the comments below!

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