Karla Sofía Gascón, the Oscar-nominated trans actor and star of the movie “Emilia Pérez,” is apologizing for her old posts on social media that denigrated Islam and that called George Floyd “a drug addict and a hustler.”
“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, where her film can be streamed. “All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.”
Gascón’s X account had been deactivated by Friday. She said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter that she “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.” Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press on Friday.
Gascón made history as the first transgender performer to be nominated for the Oscar for best actress, helping make “Emilia Pérez” the most nominated film going into next month’s show. Netflix will be hoping the controversy doesn’t derail the film’s Oscar chances.
Old posts from Gascon’s X account resurfaced this week, some going as far back as 2016, that took aim at Muslims’ dress, language and culture in her native Spain. She also suggested that Islam be banned.
And less than a month after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020, Gascón offered her assessment of Floyd — whose death prompted widespread reckoning with police brutality and racism — as a drug addict who “very few people ever cared” for.
Gascón was a regular in Mexican telenovelas before transitioning in 2018. In “Emilia Pérez,” she plays both a menacing cartel kingpin and the woman who emerges after the kingpin fakes his own death. Years later, her character contacts the lawyer who facilitated her transition (Zoe Saldaña) to help her reunite with her wife (Selena Gomez) and their children.
Old tweets have come back to haunt celebrities before, including James Gunn, Trevor Noah and Blake Shelton. Each has rebounded, with Gunn getting rehired to direct the third “Guardians of the Galaxy” film for Marvel and the upcoming “Superman” reboot; Noah is hosting this weekend’s Grammy Awards and Shelton was for years a coach on NBC’s “The Voice.”
