In January, Karla Sofía Gascón made history as the first openly transgender actress nominated for an Academy Award. She was nominated in the best actress category for her starring role in the musical crime drama Emilia Pérez. Fast forward a couple of weeks later, and Karla Sofía Gascón is embroiled in controversy.
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Karla, 52, portrays the movie’s titular character, Emilia Pérez, a Mexican cartel leader who transitions from male to female to escape a life of crime. The film snagged four Golden Globes and has been nominated for more accolades as awards season gears up. However, Karla’s past online behavior has caused immense backlash. Let’s take a closer look at the timeline of the drama.
January 23: Karla Sofía Gascón’s controversy timeline begins with her Oscars nomination.
On January 23, Karla snagged a nomination for best actress at the 2025 Oscars for Emilia Pérez. She was previously nominated for the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards. At this point, her professional life was on an upward trajectory. Soon, that would all change.
January 30: She receives backlash for comments about fellow Oscars contender Fernanda Torres.
During a sit-down with Brazilian newspaper Folha de S Paulo, Karla mentioned that publicists working for fellow Oscars best actress nominee Fernanda Torres criticized Karla and Emilia Pérez.
“You don’t need to tear down someone’s work to highlight another’s,” she told the publication, via The Independent. “I have never, at any point, said anything bad about Fernanda Torres or her movie. However, there are people working with Fernanda Torres tearing me and Emilia Perez down. That speaks more about their movie than mine.”
In a statement to Variety, Karla offered clarification. She noted that her comments weren’t aimed at people “directly associated” with Fernanda but at “toxicity and violent hate speech on social media.”
“I am an enormous fan of Fernanda Torres and it has been wonderful getting to know her the past few months,” Karla said. “In my recent comments, I was referencing the toxicity and violent hate speech on social media that I sadly continue to experience. Fernanda has been a wonderful ally, and no one directly associated with her has been anything but supportive and hugely generous.”
January 30: Karla’s resurfaced tweets cause further outrage and claims of Islamophobia.
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… pic.twitter.com/1rcNzkJXuo
— sarah hagi (@KindaHagi) January 30, 2025
That same day, writer Sarah Hagiold resurfaced concerning tweets from Karla—and unfortunately, many of them were Islamophobic.
One of her tweets read: “Is Islam a religion of peace? Tell that to the victims of terrorist attacks.”
Another message posed the question: “Why do we keep pretending that Islam is compatible with Western values?”
Meanwhile, a third tweet by Karla declared, “Islam is becoming a hotbed of infection for humanity that urgently needs to be cured.”
January 31: Karla issues an apology for the tweets.
Following backlash over the old tweets, Karla issued a public apology.
“As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain,” she said in a statement through Netflix, per the Associated Press. “All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.”
January 31: She deactivates her X (formerly Twitter) account.
On the same day as her apology, Karla deactivated her X account.
“I’m sorry, but I can no longer allow this campaign of hate and misinformation to affect me and my family, so at their request I am closing my account on X,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
“I have been threatened with death, insulted, abused and harassed to the point of exhaustion,” she said. “I have a wonderful daughter to protect, whom I love madly and who supports me in everything.”
February 1: Costar Zoe Saldaña publicly responds to the controversy.
On February 1, Zoe Saldaña—who portrays Emilia Pérez’s lawyer, Rita Mora Castro, in the film—broke her silence.
“I’m still processing everything that has transpired in the last couple of days, and I’m sad,” she said during a Q&A session in London, per The Hollywood Reporter. “It makes me really sad because I don’t support [it], and I don’t have any tolerance for any negative rhetoric toward people of any group.”
Zoe continued, “I can only attest to the experience that I had with each and every individual that was a part, that is a part, of this film, and my experience and my interactions with them was about inclusivity and collaboration and racial, cultural, and gender equity. And it just saddens me.”
February 3: Karla cries during an interview, insisting, ‘I’m not racist.’
Karla sat down for an interview with CNN en Español on February 3. During the chat, she got emotional when speaking about her resurfaced tweets, insisting she was “not a racist.”
Additionally, Karla addressed her tweet about George Floyd after he was killed by a police officer; she called him “a drug addict” and a “swindler.”
“He was a person who had been in a very difficult situation in his life and no one had helped him, and suddenly he becomes a symbol of a cause and everyone loved him,” she told CNN en Español. “For someone to think that … I have ever insulted a person because of their skin color, I do not allow that to anyone, to anyone.”
As far as Islamophobia, Karla explained that the tweets only criticized radical Islam.
February 3: Netflix reportedly drops Karla from its ‘Emilia Pérez’ Oscar campaigns.
On February 3, The Hollywood Reporter claimed that Netflix removed Karla from promotional emails. Netflix also reportedly planned to edit the movie posters to make Zoe more prominent in them. Furthermore, Netflix will reportedly no longer pay for Karla’s travel fees for film promotion, nor will it fly her to Los Angeles leading up to the March 2 Oscars.
February 5: ‘Emilia Pérez’ director Jacques Audiard denounces ‘hateful’ tweets.
On February 5, Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard spoke out against Karla’s resurfaced tweets.
“It’s very hard for me to think back to the work I did with Karla Sofía. The trust we shared, the exceptional atmosphere that we had on the set that was indeed based on trust,” he told Deadline.
Jacques continued, ”When you have that kind of relationship and suddenly you read something that that person has said, things that are absolutely hateful and worthy of being hated, of course that relationship is affected. It’s as if you fall into a hole. Because what Karla Sofía said is inexcusable.”
February 5: Zoe again speaks out.
On February 5, Variety teased an interview with Zoe for its Awards Circuit podcast.
“I’m sad. Time and time again, that’s the word because that is the sentiment that has been living in my chest since everything happened,” Zoe told the publication.
She continued, “I’m also disappointed. I can’t speak for other people’s actions. All I can attest to is my experience, and never in a million years did I ever believe that we would be here.”
