I won’t lie, it’s been more entertaining to witness the whole Karla Sofía Gascón drama than watching half of this year’s best picture nominees.
No, seriously, let’s pour one out for the Gascón who single-handedly, in the span of just 24 hours, destroyed Netflix’s “Emilia Perez” Oscar campaign.
Not even ‘Emilia’ director Jacques Audiard being the most hated man in Mexico was derailing the film’s Oscar chances. If anything , the Audiard controversy might have actually been helping. However, Gascón told him to hold her beer and watch how itpp actually gets done.
Gascón has now been forced to apologize for old tweets in which she defended Hitler, insulted Muslims, George Floyd, Chinese people, and the 2021 “Afro-Korean” Oscars. The apology released tried to paint Gascón as also being part of the “marginalized” group of people she insulted.
“I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt,” Gascón said. “As someone in a marginalized 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.”
Gascón probably wasn’t winning anyway, but what this scandal does is actually hurt the movie’s chances for best picture. It was certainly in contention. Ditto Zoe Saldana who is/was the frontrunner to win Best Supporting Actress.
Netflix had concocted a nifty narrative around their “Emilia Perez” Oscar campaign, one built around inclusivity, progress and feeling good about voting for its history-making transgender star. Now, all that good will is gone, and we’re witnessing one of the most epic campaign implosions in Oscar history.
UPDATE: Amid the controversy, Gascón is leaving social media, shutting down the X account which led to many of the unearthed tweets.
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. I have been threatened with death, insulted, abused and harassed to the point of exhaustion. I have a wonderful daughter to protect, whom I love madly and who supports me in everything.
In case you’re too curious to wait, here’s the leaked teaser for Jeremy Saulnier’s “Slayground” that’s currently being shown in theaters, and it plays hard.