Karla Sofía Gascón Set To Skip Spain’s Goya Awards Amid Backlash Over ‘Emilia Pérez’ Star’s Tweets — Report

In the latest sign that Karla Sofía Gascón is taking a backseat on the Emilia Pérez awards tour, the transgender actress is set to skip the Goya Awards, per local reports in Spain.

There was a suggestion that Gascón may join the February 8 ceremony and brave out days of backlash over her racially insensitive X/Twitter posts, but she has decided against attending.

More from Deadline

ADVERTISEMENT

EFE, the Spanish news agency, reported that the decision was made after a series of conversations between Goya organizers and Gascón. Her reps have been contacted for comment.

The Spanish performer was not nominated for an acting prize at the awards taking place in Granada, but Jacques Audiard’s Netflix feature is up for Best European Film.

Gascón’s decision to skip the Goya Awards follows news that she won’t be at the Critics Choice Awards on Friday where she is nominated for Best Actress. The actress also won’t be putting in an appearance at the PGA Awards on Saturday.

Gascón’s controversial social media posts were revealed by journalist Sarah Hagi last week. Gascón wrote that Islam was a “hotbed of infection for humanity,” described George Floyd as a “drug addict swindler” and said that the 2021 Oscars were an “ugly” “Afro-Korean festival” after triumphs for Minari and Judas and the Black Messiah.

Elsewhere, Gascón pondered that she does not “understand so much about the world war against Hitler, he simply had his opinion about Jews,” and regularly used a Spanish word that translates as “faggot” in English.

ADVERTISEMENT

Gascón deactivated her X account and said sorry for the missives, though she later gave an interview to CNN in which she diluted her apology and ventilated the conspiracy that she was the victim of a smear campaign.

Spanish politicians have denounced her remarks. Culture minister Ernest Urtasun said: “They don’t reflect Spanish society, and it pains me to say it, because her [Oscar] candidacy was very important for the country. And those tweets have tarnished that.”

Emilia Pérez has a leading 13 Oscar nominations including for Gascón, the first openly trans person to be nominated in an acting category. In an interview with Deadline on Wednesday, Audiard disavowed Gascón. “What Karla Sofía said is inexcusable,” he said. “I’m not getting in touch with her because right now she needs space to reflect and take accountability for her actions.”

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.