Emilia Pérez lead actress cut from film's Oscar campaign after racist tweets resurface
Old tweets show lead actress railing against Muslims, making racist comments about George Floyd
In the wake of numerous racist tweets by Karla Sofía Gascón resurfacing, the award show campaign for the film Emilia Pérez appears to be trying to shuffle the lead actress into the background to regain footing ahead of the Oscars.
Gascón, who plays the title role, will reportedly not be joining her co-stars in the U.S. for a week of awards campaign events she was originally slated to attend, including the Critics Choice Awards, according to multiple media outlets.
Netflix, the streamer behind Emilia Pérez, recently released a new For Your Consideration poster as part of the film's Oscar campaign that notably makes no mention of Gascón and doesn't feature any photos of her.
"They are trying to pretend that the character Emilia Pérez does not exist in the film titled Emilia Pérez," Kevin Fallon, editor of The Daily Beast, told CBC News.
Netflix did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
Karla Sofía Gascón has been completely erased from the latest Oscars 'For Your Consideration' ad for Emilia Pérez. I wonder why!?? <a href="https://t.co/4AJ2jOSsgl">pic.twitter.com/4AJ2jOSsgl</a>
—@jasonosiaLast month, Gascón made history as the first openly transgender person to be nominated in an acting category at the Academy Awards, scoring a best actress nod for her role as a former drug lord in the madcap musical drama.
But after old social media posts were brought to light by journalist Sarah Hagi in which Gascón railed against Muslims, called for Islam to be banned and referred to George Floyd as "a drug addict and a hustler," the actress has faced severe backlash.
There's now no chance of her winning the best actress Oscar, Rachel Ho, a freelance film critic and a film editor at Explain Magazine, told CBC News.
"It's well and done," she said, noting that while Gascón wasn't considered a frontrunner prior to last week, she was "certainly in the running."
Emilia Pérez tells the story of a menacing cartel leader in Mexico who transitions to a woman, fakes her death in the process, and journeys to reunite years later with the family she left behind, all with the help of the lawyer (played by Zoe Saldaña) who helped her transition.
It emerged as an unlikely favourite of award show voters and industry experts after its release, despite receiving resounding criticism for the French director's portrayal of Mexico and simplistic take on transgender narratives.
The film is up for 13 Oscars — the most for any film this year — including best picture, an honour that Netflix has yet to obtain.
Prior to the Golden Globes, Ho says she and other Golden Globes voters received plenty of promotional material from Netflix featuring Gascón.
According to Ho, the campaign's shift to spotlight only Saldaña, and Gascón's expected absence from key awards show stops this week, shows "how much Netflix has pulled their support from her."
Gascón apologizes, gives defiant interview
In old tweets, some dating back to 2016, Gascón went on tirades against Muslim people in her native home of Spain.
She also criticized the Oscars in 2021, saying in a now-deleted tweet, "I didn't know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration, or March 8th."
And less than a month after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020, Gascón referred to Floyd — whose death prompted widespread reckoning with police brutality and racism — as a drug addict who "very few people ever cared" for.
Since the tweets resurfaced, Gascón deactivated her account on X, formerly Twitter, and apologized for the old posts.
"As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain," the actor said in a statement Thursday via Netflix. "All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness."
She also addressed the controversy on Saturday in a tearful, hourlong interview with CNN's Juan Carlos Arciniegas, reportedly booked without the involvement of Netflix, expressing both defiance and penitence in turns.
Gascón said during the interview that she offered her "most sincere apologies to all the people who may have felt offended," but denied being a racist.
"I cannot step down from an Oscar nomination because I have not committed any crime nor have I harmed anyone. I am neither racist nor anything that all these people have tried to make others believe I am," Gascón told CNN.
Best picture hopes in question
Crisis management expert Anne Marie Malecha told CBC News that considering how much money has been invested in this film's Oscar run, it's shocking that no one "did their homework" on the cast to unearth Gascón's tweets early enough to plan for them, or even change course.
"Frankly, I probably wouldn't have brought on this actress," she said. "They're making a pretty strong statement with their art. You got to know who your artist is."
Fallon, with the Daily Beast, said it was "absolutely the biggest scandal" he'd ever seen in his time covering the Oscars.
"It just has completely derailed what should have been a really beautiful historic moment for the transgender community, to finally have reached this progress of having the first openly transgender nominee for an acting Oscar, and instead we have utter chaos."
He noted that there was a "really horrible irony" to the film's campaign "erasing the trans person from the trans film."
Fallon believes the film's chance at winning best picture is likely out of the question now.
"I can't imagine voters voting for that after all of this."
Saldaña, who is widely considered to be the frontrunner in the best supporting actress category for her role in Emilia Pérez, is likely in the clear, Ho said.
"If I had to bet on it, I would still choose Zoe."
Saldaña reacted to Gascón's posts during a Q&A for the film in London on Friday, telling the audience that she was still "processing everything."
"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," she said, adding that she still believes in the film's "powerful" message.
Oscar night complications
Fallon also pointed out that the controversy will likely cause issues for the Oscars telecast itself.
"The producers have already announced that they had planned to revive what is usually a really touching bit where five past Best Actress winners come and give tributes to all the nominees before announcing this year's winner," he said.
"Who is going to agree, at this point, to deliver a heartfelt tribute to Karla Sofía after all of this has happened?"
Whether or not Gascón's Hollywood career is over, or Emilia Pérez recovers its earlier Oscars buzz, the controversy has stained this year's awards show season, Ho said.
"I just think it's a shame because this time of year for film, it's meant to be a very positive thing for the industry," she said. "And it doesn't feel that way right now."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from The Associated Press