Karla Sofía Gáscon’s Tweets Could Hurt ‘Emilia Perez’ at the Oscars

Oscar voting doesn't end until February 18, but I think it's safe to say that Karla Sofía Gáscon will not be taking home the Academy Award for Best Actress. Granted, the Emilia Pérez star, the first openly trans performer nominated for the Oscar, wasn't exactly a front-runner—even before fans and critics unearthed Karla Sofía Gáscon's old racist, offensive tweets.

But now that her tweets have been unearthed, and that fans have seen her lackluster damage control efforts, it's possible that not only could this negative press affect her chances, but the film's. To make sense of what's going on, here's everything you need to know about the Karla Sofía Gáscon controversy and what it means for Emilia Pérez's Oscar chances.

Karla Is Accused of Violating Oscar Rules

Karla first found herself in hot water in the last week of January. First, there were the statements she made about the Best Actress Oscar race, in which she seemed to accuse social media teams working with fellow-nominee Fernanda Torres of "trying to diminish" her work and that of the Emilia Pérez crew.

"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," she said in a Spanish-language interview, as reported 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."

Karla quickly walked back these accusations after fans pointed out that such comments could go against Academy rules, which prevent nominees from sharing "misleading or false information about a motion picture, performance, or achievement" and state that one cannot "discourage members to vote for any motion picture, performance, or achievement."

In a statement to Variety, Karla claimed that she was not speaking about anyone "directly associated" with Torres or her film, I'm Still Here, adding, "I was referencing the toxicity and violent hate speech on social media that I sadly continue to experience." Her statement, coupled with the fact that she didn't say anything negative about Torres' performance or nomination, were enough to put this controversy to bed—for a few hours. Then the tweets started coming out...

Karla's Offensive Tweets Are Uncovered

Karla might not have broke any Oscar rules, but she upset fans enough that they started digging through her X, formerly Twitter, account. And what they found was much more damning. As first resurfaced by journalist Sarah Hagi, Karla's account was reportedly full of offensive, racist, and Islamophobic tweets.

Among her reported statements (which were translated from Spanish), one called George Floyd "a drug addict swindler." Another commented on the 2021 Oscars ceremony, when winners included Nomadland, Minari, and Judas and the Black Messiah, saying that watching these films be awarded felt like "watching an Afro-Korean festival" or "a Black Lives Matter demonstration." She also reportedly tweeted frequently about Islam, calling it "a hotbed of infection," among other things.

After an evening of her tweets going viral, Karla deleted her account and issued a non-apology statement to The Hollywood Reporter. "I'm sorry, but I can no longer allow this campaign of hate and misinformation to affect neither my family nor me anymore, so at their request I am closing my account on X," the statement, translated from Spanish by the outlet, began. "I have been threatened with death, insulted, abused, and harassed to the point of exhaustion."

In the statement, Karla seemed to imply that her past statements don't reflect her current beliefs, noting that she "used social media as a diary, reflections or notes, to later create stories or characters." She continued, "I have defended each and every one of the minorities in this world and supported freedom of religion and any action against racism and homophobia in the same way that I have criticized the hypocrisy that underlies them, because the first thing I am critical of is myself."

Karla then suggested that this was part of an orchestrated campaign against her, saying there was "something very dark behind it," and claiming that critics were "taking my words out of context or manipulating them to hurt me." And while she apologized "if I have ever offended anyone," she maintained that she was not responsible for "what others say I say or what others interpret from what I say."

Karla Decides Not to Withdraw from the Oscars

Of course, this non-apology didn't do much to quiet Karla's critics. The actor tried again to do some damage control with an interview on CNN on February 3. "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," Karla told the network.

She also expressed her frustration at what she views as a lack of opportunity to defend herself, saying, "I have been judged, condemned, sacrificed, crucified, and stoned without a trial and without the option to defend myself."

Karla went on to claim that she didn't "recognize" some of the resurfaced tweets and flat out denied ever writing about Selena Gomez after a supposed old tweet surfaced in which she reportedly called Selena "a rich rat," saying, "It's not mine, of course."

As for tweets she admits to writing, Karla insisted that they were taken out of context in a separate Instagram statement. "They have created [posts] as if it were me insulting even my colleagues, things I wrote to glorify as if they were criticism, jokes as if they were reality, words that without the background only seem hate," she wrote, per Instagram's translation.

What Karla's Tweets Mean for Emilia Pérez's Oscar Chances

Karla's Emilia Pérez costar and Best Supporting Actress frontrunner, Zoe Saldaña, is already seemingly attempting to distance her Oscar campaign from Karla. "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," Zoe said at a Q&A for the film in London, per The Hollywood Reporter.

She did not attempt to defend her costar, but continued, "I can only attest to the experience that I had with each and every individual that was a part of this film and my experience and my interactions with them was about inclusivity and collaboration and racial, cultural, and gender equity." Karla was originally slated to attend the event but pulled out last minute.

As for Karla's chances, to say that these incredibly hurtful, harmful, and ignorant tweets will cost her the Oscar would be disingenuous. The Academy clearly loves Emilia Pérez, but Karla's surprise nomination was, frankly, a long shot. Plus, after the Golden Globes, it's pretty clear to me that Demi Moore will be victorious come Oscar night.

Is it hypocritical for the Academy to abandon Karla for hateful tweets the same year it is poised to give an Oscar to Adrien Brody, who maybe got banned from SNL after doing a racist bit on national TV? Yep! But that's the politics of award shows.

One award this controversy could very well cost Emilia Pérez is that of Best Picture. Should Netflix continue focusing its Emilia Pérez Oscar campaign on the historic nature of her nomination and the film's political implications (especially in the midst of a second Trump presidency), it could cause voters to second-guess giving it the top prize. Why risk awarding an already controversial film with the night's highest honor? Especially because it would likely give her a chance to speak on a global stage (as she did when Emilia Pérez won Best Picture Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes).

Karla's own Oscar win may be out of reach, but a word of advice to the actor: If you want to enjoy Oscar night and support your co-stars, stop being so defensive. The Academy is nothing if not forgiving, so try taking accountability. At this point, what do you have to lose?

You Might Also Like

• Here’s What NOT to Wear to a Wedding

• Meet the Laziest, Easiest Acne Routine You’ll Ever Try