Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard has hit out at the film’s star, Karla Sofía Gascón, for “playing the victim” amid the resurfacing of her offensive tweets.
Gascón, 52 - who recently became the first trans person to be
Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard blasts Karla Sofía Gascón after offensive tweets resurface
Bang Showbiz
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Emilia Perez's director Jacques Audiard (inset) has hit out at the film's star, Karla Sofia Gascon, in the wake of past inflammatory tweets being resurfaced. Photo / Composite / Getty Images
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“Why is she harming herself? Why? I don’t understand it, and what I don’t understand about this too is why she’s harming people who were very close to her.
“I’m thinking in this thing of how hurting others, of how she’s hurting the crew and all these people who worked so incredibly hard on this film. I’m thinking of myself, I’m thinking of [fellow cast members] Zoe [Saldaña] and Selena [Gomez]. I just don’t understand why she’s continuing to harm us.
“I’m not getting in touch with her because right now she needs space to reflect and take accountability for her actions ... She’s really playing the victim. She’s talking about herself as a victim, which is surprising. It’s as if she thought that words don’t hurt.”
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Gascón’s former tweets included posts about the murder of George Floyd, the Muslim community and diversity at the Oscars, prompting Audiard to brand her comments as “inexcusable”.
The director confessed he was “very sad” the controversy had overshadowed Emilia Pérez’s staggering 13 Oscar nominations.
“Very unfortunately, it is taking up all the space, and that makes me very sad,” he added.
“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.
“And 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.”
In a lengthy post to social media, Gascón addressed the backlash by apologising “to all those who have felt bad about the way I have expressed myself at any stage of my life”.
“I cannot repair my past actions, I can only say that today I am not the same person as 10 or 20 years ago, that although I had not committed any crime, I was not perfect either, I am not even now,” she wrote.
“I just try to learn and be a better person every day.”
Gascón portrayed Emilia Pérez, the titular character, in the Golden Globe-winning film, which has sparked heated controversy despite its multiple award nominations.
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Emilia Pérez follows a Mexican lawyer (Zoe Saldaña), who is offered a job to help a cartel boss (Gascón) transition into living as a woman.
The Netflix-produced musical has been accused of cultural appropriation and poor representation of Latino culture, while the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation branded its portrayal of trans issues as “retrograde”.
Some critics have taken exception to the film being a predominantly French-helmed production - that was also shot in France - with no Mexican actors in the main cast besides Adriana Paz, with Gascón being Spanish and Saldaña being of Dominican and Puerto Rican heritage.
Gascón won the Best Actress prize at Cannes Film Festival in May 2024, the first transgender woman to do so. She was also the first trans nominee in a film acting category at the Golden Globes, and made history again in January by becoming the first trans person to receive an Oscar nomination.
- Additional reporting, NZ Herald.
