Oscar Favorite ‘Emilia Pérez’ Star’s Jaw-Dropping Tweets on Race and Islam Suddenly Surface

Karla Sofia Gascón, the Oscar-nominated star of Emilia Pérez, has come under fire for a series of resurfaced social media posts where she comments on everything from Muslims living in Spain, George Floyd, and diversity at the Oscars.

The original comments, which were deleted as recently as Thursday, were first discovered by journalist Sarah Hagi, with many of them being posted between 2020 and 2021.

In one post from Sept. 2020, Gascón included a picture of a Muslim family with a woman wearing a burka and 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.”

Then, two months later in Nov. 2020, Gascón against posted about Muslims.

“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,” Variety reported after translating the post.

The actress’ posts also extended to George Floyd and the protests that followed his killing by a police officer. “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,” she posted. “They’re all wrong.”

Gascón followed up in a post and added, “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.”

All of the tweets were made before Gascón, a 52-year-old Spanish actress, skyrocketed to international fame in 2024 after starring in Jacques Audiard’s crime drama-musical Emilia Perez—which was released by Netflix after premiering at Cannes Film Festival the same year.

The controversial film, which also features leading roles from American actors Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez, stars Gascón as the head of a Mexican drug cartel who fakes his own death to undergo gender reassignment surgery.

Despite only receiving lukewarm reviews from critics, Emilia Perez dominated the Golden Globes in January, winning four out of ten awards it was nominated for and drawing the ire of moviegoers over a whole host of complaints.

It again shocked Oscar watchers later that month as it racked up 13 Academy Award nominations—including a Best Actress nod for Gascón, making her the first transgender woman nominated for the award.

Despite the harsh backlash, many oddsmakers and critics believe Emilia Perez is a frontrunner to win big again at the Academy Awards in March.

In the past, Gascón had some strong opinions about the diversity of Oscar nominations and winners—particularly from the 2021 ceremony, when Nomadland won Best Picture.

“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,” Gascón wrote. “Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala.”