Yahoo Lifestyle Why Didn’t Netflix Check Karla Sofía Gascón’s Twitter History?
The Internet never forgets.
Apparently, Oscar strategists do.
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Six years after “Green Book” writer-producer Nick Vallelonga’s old tweet that disparaged Muslims resurfaced in the thick of an awards-season campaign, threatening the film’s Academy Awards prospects, “Emilia Pérez” star Karla Sofía Gascón is under fire for social media posts that took aim at everything from Islam to George Floyd to Oscars diversity. In an unexpected turn of events, Netflix did not vet Gascón’s social media history in advance — nor, it seems, had anyone else associated with the film or the actor — a decision that represents a critical lapse for a major Oscar campaign, according to eight awards veterans and communications executives who spoke with Variety on condition on anonymity.
“We all make mistakes, omissions, but when you know you have a loose cannon like her, you don’t take your eye off the ball especially since anyone in that position can take an entire campaign down with it,” said one campaign guru.
Gascón, whose problematic posts on X largely date back about four years and were written in Spanish, is known to be outspoken and already has run into trouble during this year’s heated race by accusing the social media team of fellow best actress nominee Fernanda Torres (“I’m Still Here”) of trying to “tear down” her work and “Emilia Pérez.” Some strategists, whose job it is to ensure that skeletons remain in closets so that a film and performances are judged on their merits rather than on a controversial backstory, are shocked that Netflix, which declined to comment, didn’t make the small capital outlay to keep “Emilia Pérez,” this year’s most nominated film, on track.
The price of vetting a nominee’s social media history and scrubbing offensive posts is minuscule compared to the cost of courting Oscar voters through tastemaker screenings, for-your-consideration ads and lavish parties — a full-court press that can cost upwards of $30 million, say sources familiar with campaign spending. The cost of vetting, by contrast, runs anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000, depending on how prolific a contender is on social media.
The controversy also exposes just how precarious social media has become during awards season — for potential nominees, and for the studios investing small fortunes in getting them to the Dolby Theater. Gascón isn’t the only person to see their Oscar dreams dinged by embarrassing social media posts. In December 2018, Kevin Hart stepped down from Oscar hosting duties after his old tweets denigrating the gay community surfaced, sparking outrage.
Beyond the Oscars, Hollywood and media figures have lost work or faced criticism for their old social media posts. In 2018, Disney fired James Gunn from directing “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” after a series of jokes about the Holocaust and pedophilia that he made on social media between 2008 and 2012 were recirculated. He was eventually reinstated after colleagues rallied to his defense, but the experience was a bruising one. ABC fired Rosanne Barr that same year and canceled her eponymous sitcom after she tweeted comparing Barack Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett to an ape; Barr later apologized, but her character was killed off and the show continued without her as “The Connors.” And CNN’s Kaitlan Collins was forced to apologize — again, in 2018 — after the Log Cabin Republicans found and shared Collins’ tweets from 2011 in which she used anti-gay slurs and said she wasn’t sure she would want a lesbian for a roommate.
In this atmosphere, many media companies have tried to be proactive about the talent they go into business with, taking a “no surprises” approach. One awards strategist said that before a campaign, they sit prospective nominees down and ask them if there are any skeletons in their closet that might come out during the season. The strategist said that was especially important in the case of Gascón, who, as the first openly trans person nominated for an acting Oscar, had a target on her back.
“If you are the ‘first’ anything, you’re going to get so much more scrutiny,” the strategist said. “This is just PR 101. You go through people’s social media and look for anything problematic. This was so avoidable. They could have found all of these messages and dealt with them months ago.”
But others, who work behind the scenes to help studios realize their Oscar ambitions, say Gascón may not have been seen as a candidate who needed to be put under the microscope.
“She does not meet the requirements of somebody who would normally be vulnerable to posting toxic commentary because she’s part of the LGBTQ+ community” said a source who is familiar with the Hollywood vetting process. “She doesn’t fit the profile because she, herself, is part of a protected class.”
But that kind of thinking shows Hollywood’s own bias — and speaks to the long held belief that the industry is still full of racism, nepotism and elitism. In this case, the notion that nominating Gascón would lead to progress backfired and created blindspots.
One other veteran awards guru admitted that they never commissioned any kind of background checks on the actors or filmmakers they work with, though they suspected that they may have to start changing that practice after the Gascón controversy.
“Sometimes you’ll have someone post something unfortunate about another nominee or say something that gets people upset during the campaign, and you have to deal with that, but this feels new,” the strategist said. “But is it our job to do a background check? You’re supposed to help a movie get nominations, not go through years of tweets.”
Some strategists said that Netflix should have done more due diligence when it bought “Emilia Pérez” at the Cannes Film Festival last year, while others suggested it was the responsibility of the movie’s producers to find out if Gascón or her co-stars had any issues that might overshadow the film’s release and promotion. According to one source, the “Emilia Pérez” filmmakers are not on social media and didn’t consider the possibility that Gascón was documenting such hateful sentiments online.
Several experts likened the situation with “Emilia Pérez” to the one that Fox Searchlight faced after it bought “The Birth of a Nation” at Sundance in 2016, only to see its plans for a major Oscar push unravel after it came to light that the film’s director and star Nate Parker had been accused of raping a woman in 1999. His accuser committed suicide in 2012. Although Parker was acquitted and the conviction of the film’s co-writer Jean McGianni Celestin was thrown out, the scandal rocked the film, which went on to bomb at the box office.
“After that happened, everyone said we need to be more careful about these acquisitions,” one strategist said. “But I’m not sure things changed.” (It’s worth noting that Searchlight shelved and ultimately dropped another Sundance hit, “Magazine Dreams,” after its star, Jonathan Majors, was arrested and convicted for harassment and assault of his ex-girlfriend.)
Personal publicists, who are adept at managing the PR risk of their clients, also may shoulder some blame, with others suggesting that it was the responsibility of Gascón’s agents to know about her social media profile. Gascón is represented by Lede and UTA, both of whom declined to comment.
Gascón deactivated her X account and issued an apology on Thursday, saying, “I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain.” But awards strategists and PR experts aren’t sure that will be enough to contain the damage. They suggested that the rest of the “Emilia Pérez” cast and crew distance themselves from the star and make it clear that they do not condone her views.
It is unclear if Gascón’s online missteps will cost her a shot at the Oscar or hurt the film’s chances of nabbing the best picture statue that has eluded Netflix despite lavish spending. She is still scheduled to receive a Virtuosos Award from the Santa Barbara Film Festival, and she’s also a Critics Choice and SAG Awards nominee. Past social media scandals have fed their own backlash — after all, Vallelonga won two Oscars for “Green Book,” as a screenwriter and a producer. But he posted a single offending tweet.
Last week, Netflix was celebrating “Emilia Pérez” receiving 13 nominations, including Gascón’s landmark nod. Now, the streaming service is in full-on damage control mode, hoping that it can salvage the film’s campaign and its chance of making history.
“They have to hope that Karla didn’t just give all these Oscar voters a good reason to vote against their movie,” one strategist said. “You want people to feel excited about their choice, not ashamed.”
Elsa Keslassy contributed to this report.
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