Post-'Tweet' Controversy, Karla Sofía Gascón Opens Up: 'I Couldn't Breathe'

When Karla Sofía Gascón received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress this year, it seemed that Hollywood – at least for a brief second – was on the cusp of embracing a trans actress and making a statement against President Donald Trump's binary definition of sexuality. Her film "Emilia Pérez," directed by Jacques Audiard, received 13 nominations, more than any other this year.

After winning the Jury Prize and a Best Actress award for its four female leads (Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz), the film was picked up by Netflix and appeared poised to bring the streamer the Academy Awards prestige it long hoped for on Oscar night.

But it wasn't to be, as the film's hopes imploded quickly after Canadian journalist Sarah Hagi uncovered offensive tweets by Gascón. In them, the Spanish actress made derogatory comments, including calling Islam "a hotbed of infection for humanity that urgently needs to be cured." She also appears to side with police in the death of George Floyd, and to criticize the diversity of the 2021 Academy Awards, calling the ceremony an "Afro-Korean festival." She also referred to co-star Gomez as a "rich rat."

She made a public apology, deactivated her X account, and spoke in her own defense by taking part in an interview with CNN en Español in which she again apologized and said she didn't recognize many of the tweets, including the one made against Gomez. She also suggested that her X account was hacked. "I cannot give up an Oscar nomination because I have not committed any crime nor have I harmed anyone. I am not racist nor am I anything that all these people have tried to make others believe I am," Gascón told CNN.

Netflix quickly responded by removing Gascón from promotional materials for "Emilia Pérez," excluding her from awards campaigns, and no longer funding her travel and fashion expenses for the remainder of the awards season. They later restored funding for her to attend the ceremony, which she did without walking the red carpet. Early in the ceremony she was lightly trolled by host Conan O'Brien in his opening monologue. "Little fact for you, 'Anora' uses the 'F' word 479 times," he said "That's three more than the record set by Karla Sofía Gascón's publicist.

"Karla, if you're going to tweet about the Oscars, remember, my name is Jimmy Kimmel," the comedian added.

The camera panned to Gascón who blew him a kiss and mouthed, "Thank you." She later wrote in Spanish on Instagram: "I really liked it, very entertaining and funny, especially its fabulous host Jimmy Kimmel; he is fantastic, every day he looks more like the great Conan O'Brien."

But "Emilia Pérez" was pretty much a big loser at the ceremony, winning just two Oscars, both long expected: Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldaña, and Best Original Song for "El Mal." It lost the Best Foreign Language Film to the acclaimed Brazilian drama "I'm Still Here," which was also nominated for Best Picture.

While some of the blame for the film's poor Oscar night performance could be put on Gascón, there was also intense criticism of its portrayal of a trans woman in the queer community, and by Mexicans who slammed its glib portrayal of cartel bosses and its use of language. (Despite largely taking part in Mexico, the movie was filmed in France.)

Gascón spoke to the Hollywood Reporter this week, saying she "loved the ceremony, honestly, I found it very enjoyable."

She continued: "I would have liked to experience it more normally, from the happiness of being nominated, of celebrating, as I am now, full of love, a person who puts her soul and her being into her work and who gives herself to others. I am very grateful to return, and for how my colleagues and the professionals of the Hollywood industry received me. I am grateful to the academy, to Netflix and to the production."

She again apologized "to all I have offended at any point in my life and throughout my journey," asked for "forgiveness," and commited to "continuing to learn and listen so as not to make the same mistakes in the future."

She also said the "hurtful things" she said and did came "from fear, from my own ignorance, from my own pain," adding that she hopes to use her experience, which included a number of dark moments, to "open an honest discussion and reflection on mental health."

She also maintained that there were false tweets amongst the real ones, claiming "[S]everal fake accounts were created in my name to add to the pain and confusion. Absurd and even delirious accusations were thrown at me, which deeply hurt my spirit. Things escalated to a point, and so quickly, that I couldn't even breathe."

Gascón called the controversy an "unexpected, devastating storm," saying there were times "when the pain has been so overwhelming that I contemplated the unthinkable."

"I harbored darker thoughts than those I considered in some of my previous, no less intimate and personal struggles. And I asked myself: if I, with all my strength and preparedness to deal with rage and rejection, am on the edge, what would have become of someone with fewer emotional resources to resist this onslaught? Somehow, I made it. Others would not have survived this brutal winter I am about to wrap up."

She went on to add what she learned from the experience.

"Now that the storm is calming down a bit, and the worst has passed (or so I hope), I start seeing clearly what I have learned. I've learned that hatred, like fire, cannot be put down with more hatred. Offenses cannot be erased with more offenses, and mistakes cannot clean up other mistakes, especially when lies and falseness proliferate all around and when all they send back to me is pure rage, blatant bullying, vexation, scorn and even death threats."

She went on to say, "Fortunately, I have kept my one inch of sanity to see the light at the end of this tunnel of hate and understand that I must be and do better, and correct my past faults, without engaging in more darkness. Otherwise, if I play their game, and reciprocate and amplify all that hate others project on me, I will get lost; I will never move forward, and I won't be able to keep helping others still stuck in the storm."

She concluded that she'll continue to advocate for "the rights of the most disadvantaged."

"You will always find me on the opposite side of fanaticism, imposition, patriarchy, fascism, dictatorships, terror, abuse and irrationality. I do not bind myself to any political flag; I only try to be a human being in constant evolution, with successes and failures, but with an unbreakable will to learn, listen, admit mistakes, apologize and forgive others as I forgive myself for the unnecessary pain I have caused."