From all-time backtracks to offensive posts—All you need to know about Emilia Pérez, the Oscars’ most polarising nomination 

Emilia Pérez, a musical about a drug lord who undergoes gender reassignment surgery, started its post-release run as a tabloid darling and consensus fan favorite. Last year, the feature film garnered top-level praise at the Golden Globes, winning the award for Best Musical or Comedy, on its way to four total awards at the star-studded event, which was punctuated by an emotional acceptance speech from Karla Sofía Gáscon, the film’s trans lead.

In the subsequent weeks and months, however, the narrative surrounding the film as we gear up for the Oscars has been marred by controversy as a result of old tweets and regrettable decisions having resurfaced.

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Karla attacks Oscars

The drama started in late January when lead actress Karla Sofia Gáscon made some off-the-cuff remarks about the Best Actress Oscar. It was here where she even went as far as to accuse social media teams of working in conjunction with Fernanda Torres (a best actress category rival) to diminish the work of the entire team that worked on Emilia Pérez.

(Post via X/@21metgala)

Karla attempted to retract her claims and soften her position in response to the notion that her remarks could be in direct violation of Academy rules, which prevent nominees from sharing "misleading or false information about a motion picture, performance, or achievement" and state that one cannot "discourage members to vote for any motion picture, performance, or achievement."

When addressing this with Variety, Karla defended her stance by saying she was not targeting anyone "directly associated" with I’m Still Here.

"I was referencing the toxicity and violent hate speech on social media that I sadly continue to experience."

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Controversial tweets and Karla’s response

Her backtracking and polarising nature caused the internet as a whole to seemingly take a deeper dive into her social media accounts. What they found was not ideal. In an initiative spearheaded by journalist Sarah Hagi, her X account was found to be blatantly lined with offensive and racist tweets.

(Post via X/@KindaHagi)

Upon learning that her tweets had only come back to the forefront, she spoke with The Hollywood Reporter:

"I'm sorry, but I can no longer allow this campaign of hate and misinformation to affect neither my family nor me anymore, 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."

She then elaborated to the outlet, claiming that she,

“used social media as a diary, reflections or notes, to later create stories or characters. I have defended each and every one of the minorities in this world and supported freedom of religion and any action against racism and homophobia in the same way that I have criticized the hypocrisy that underlies them, because the first thing I am critical of is myself."

While she does make an effort to demonstrate her personal growth, there wasn’t even a semblance of an apology in her words, which only angered people further. Subsequently, she went to Instagram in an attempt to clear the air, but she fell short again.

(Post via Instagram/@hollywoodreporter)

Instead of assuming any responsibility for her hurtful words and rhetoric, she labeled the viral nature of her old tweets to be an orchestrated attack on her, schemed up by her harshest detractors and critics.

Most recently, Gascón sat down for an interview with CNN’s Juan Carlos Arciniegas, extending her “most sincere apologies to all the people who may have felt offended.” The actress then doubled down on her bid for recognition on the largest stage,

“I cannot step down from an Oscar nomination because I have not committed any crime nor have I harmed anyone. I am neither racist nor anything that all these people have tried to make others believe I am.”

(Post via X/@HuffPost)

Unfortunately, these efforts have only resulted in more criticism, and the overall verdict seems to continue to be that her cavalier lack of remorse and unwillingness to accept full responsibility for her comments have landed her between a rock and a hard place. This is genuinely disappointing, as the actress was poised to do something truly remarkable for the entire trans community at this year’s Academy Awards, global entertainment’s biggest stage.

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Zoe Saldaña's blackface controversy resurfaces

The news of Karla’s resurfaced tweets is not the only thing weighing down the buzz around Emilia Pérez, once considered this year’s possible Oscar darling.

Zoe Saldaña, another of the film’s cast members and heralded actress in her own right, also came under fire recently. This is due to the actress using "blackface" in 2012 when she starred as Nina Simone in the biopic Nina. While Saldaña apologized for her actions in a 2020 interview with CNN, this story coming back into the limelight will only further hinder the film’s potential success at the Academy Awards and, more importantly so, in the public eye.