E-Paper
Internet wants Karla Sofia Gascon 'disqualified' from Oscars after her racist tweets on Muslims, Covid, BTS resurface
Karla Sofía Gascón, the Oscar-nominated star of Emilia Perez, is facing enormous backlash after her old offensive tweets resurfaced this week.
Days after she earned a historic Oscar nomination, Emilia Perez actor Karla Sofia Gascon has found herself in hot soup for her old, problematic tweets on everything from George Floyd and Covid-19 to Islam and BTS. Even as the actor has issued an apology over the tweets, the internet is not convinced and wants her 'disqualified' from her Academy Award nomination.
Karla Sofia Gascon's controverial tweets
Karla Sofia Gascon came under fire this week after old posts from Gascon's account on Twitter 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. The actor also called police brutality victim George Floyd “a drug addict and a hustler” and had tweets targetting Adele and BTS as well.
On Friday, in a statement through Netflix, where her film Emilia Perez is streaming, the actor said, “As someone in a marginalised community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.”
The internet strikes back
Yet, the internet is not convinced, largely because the offensive tweets have not yet been deleted. One post on Twitter (now X) read, “It’s so insane that karla sofía gascón still has these tweets up. straight up have never seen tweets this racist from someone actively campaigning to win an ACADEMY AWARD. there are more than a dozen.”
Referring to an old post of the actor against the Academy Awards itself, one person tweeted, "Karla Sofía Gascón is such a raging racist that she saw Daniel Kaluuya and Youn Yuh-jung winning Oscars and complained that it’s become an “Afro-Korean festival”."
Gascon had tweeted in 2021: “More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films, I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala.”
Many praised Brazillian social media users for unearthing the tweets. "Brazilians once again being of great service to society by exposing the nasty Karla Sofia Gascon," wrote one. Another added, "Disqualify Karla Sofía Gascón and nominate Margot Robbie for Babylon."
Who is Karla Sofia Gascon?
Gascon made history as the first transgender performer to be nominated for the Oscar for best actress, helping make Emilia Perez the most nominated film going into next month's show. Gascon was a regular in Mexican telenovelas before transitioning in 2018. In Emilia Perez, she plays both a menacing cartel kingpin and the woman who emerges after the kingpin fakes his own death, Emilia Perez.
