Selena Gomez responds to Eugenio Derbez's Spanish accent critique: ‘Doesn’t take away…’

Selena Gomez defended her Spanish skills after Eugenio Derbez criticised her accent in the Netflix film Emilia Perez.

Selena Gomez recently found herself defending her Spanish-language skills after a viral clip surfaced, in which Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez criticized her performance and accent in the Netflix film Emilia Perez. The 32-year-old actress took to social media on Saturday evening to address the backlash, which followed the film’s release last month.

Selena Gomez defended her Spanish accent in the Netflix film Emilia Perez after actor Eugenio Derbez criticized her performance. (Photo by Michael Tran / AFP)(AFP)

Derbez criticises Gomez’s Spanish accent

Derbez recently appeared on a Spanish language podcast, Hablando de Cine, where he described the singer’s accent in the movie ‘indefensible’. Gomez plays Jessi Del Monte in the musical thriller, who is the wife of a Mexican drug cartel leader. Jessi is originally from America but speaks Spanish in the film. She had previously escaped to Switzerland, which might explain her accent and the way she speaks Spanish in the movie.

Derbez said on the podcast, “I [watched the film] with people, and every time she had a scene, we looked at each other to say to each other, "Wow, what is this?'" as reported by Daily Mail.

The host of the podcast show, Gaby Meza called the Same Old Love singer “a very talented actress” who had various nominations to her name for her work. However, she agreed with Debrez as she also denounced Gomez were her accent, she claimed it was because the singer is a native English speaker. Meza said, “Spanish is not her main language, not her secondary or fifth language. And that’s why I feel like she doesn’t know what she’s saying. If she doesn’t know what she’s saying, she can’t give her acting any nuance.”

Sharing a high five with the host, the 63-year-old actor said, “I’m glad you’re saying it because I said, "Why is no one talking about that?" He wondered why no one criticised the same in America as he offered his explanation. Debrex explained, “I feel like they don’t speak Spanish. f you watch a Russian film or a German film, that is subtitled to Spanish and you see someone [speaking in the original language], you say, ‘Oh, look. OK! Interesting.’”

Derbez argued that non-Spanish speaking audiences might not fully grasp the flaws in Gomez's acting, as they rely on subtitles to watch Emilia Perez and don't understand the language.

He quipped, “I felt it was an interesting experiment. How funny that a director… I liked the film, aside from the Selena [scenes] that jump at you, because it has salvageable things. But I told myself, ‘How weird that the director doesn’t speak English or Spanish and the movie is in Spanish and English, and it takes place in Mexico and you don’t understand the culture.’” The actor added, “It’s like if I made a film in Russian without knowing the culture or speaking Russian and talk in French.”

Gomez responds to Debrez’s criticism

The singer responded to the backlash against her Spanish accent by Debrez. In the comment section of a TikTok video which featured the actor’s remarks, Gomez replied, “ I understand where you are coming from..I'm sorry I did the best I could with the time I was given. Doesn't take away from how much work and heart I put into this movie.”

In contrast, in October, Derbez was photographed with Gomez at a screening of Emilia Perez during the New York Film Festival. Despite his earlier criticism, the actor shared the photo on his Instagram, praising the film as a "great movie!" and tagging Gomez along with other cast members.

In the caption he wrote, “I had the opportunity to see the movie #EmiliaPerez Great movie! Thank you very much @adytapaz for the invitation! Mexican Pride!!!”