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“Emilia Perez” actress Zoe Saldaña is “sad” about co-star Karla Sofía Gascón’s controversial tweets that have upended this year’s Oscar race.
During a Q&A in London on Friday, Saldaña addressed the controversy, telling the audience she is “still processing everything that has transpired in the last couple of days, and I’m sad,” according to a video shared by The Hollywood Reporter.
The comments came after an event moderator Edith Bowman asked if there was “anything you wanted to say to the audience tonight in regards” to the controversy.
“It makes me really sad because I don’t support (it), and I don’t have any tolerance for any negative rhetoric towards people of any group. 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,” Saldaña said, adding that “it just saddens me.”
Karla Sofía Gascón apologizes forposts on George Floyd, diversity at Oscars
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She continued, telling the audience that “it saddens me that we are having to face this setback right now. But I’m happy that you’re all here and that you’re all still showing up for ‘Emilia’ (Perez) because the message that this film has is so powerful and the change that it can bring forward to communities that are marginalized day in and day out is important.
“And all that I can attest is that all of us that came together to tell this story, we came together for love and for respect and curiosity, and we will continue to spread that message. That’s all we can say right now,” she added.
Gascón made offensive past comments about Oscars, George Floyd
Before Gascón was an Oscars hopeful, she made offensive comments about the ceremony itself, George Floyd and Muslims.
In one of the posts dated Nov. 23, 2020, which was translated by USA TODAY, Gascón wrote in Spanish: “Sorry, is it just me or are there more Muslims in Spain? Every time I pick up my daughter from school there are more women with their hair covered and their skirts down to their heels. Next year instead of English, we’ll have to teach Arabic …”
In another post, Gascón shared a thread about her thoughts on George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter movement and the nationwide demonstrations that occurred in response to his murder at the hands of police.
“Honestly, I think that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict swindler, but his death has served to once again demonstrate that there are people who still consider Black people to be … without rights and consider policemen to be assassins,” she posted. “They’re all wrong.”
Gascón added: “Too many things to reflect on regarding the behavior of our species every time an event occurs. Perhaps it is no longer a question of racism, but of social classes that feel threatened by each other. Maybe that’s the only real difference.”
In another post, the Oscar nominee also criticized The Academy for its 2021 awards show ceremony, the first following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films, I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M,” Gascón wrote. “Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala.”
Gascón apologizes after becoming first openly transgender actress with Oscar nod
Gascón made history in January as the first openly transgender actress to receive an Oscar nomination for her role in the Netflix film. Now, she’s apologizing for resurfaced social media posts expressing controversial views on Muslims, George Floyd and diversity at the Academy Awards.
“I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt,” she said in a statement obtained by USA TODAY Thursday. “As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain.”
On Thursday morning, journalist Sarah Hagi shared screenshots of several of Gascón’s old posts on X, formerly Twitter, and they quickly gained steam —and backlash — from people on social media. Variety was first to report the news.
“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,” Hagi wrote of Gascón’s offensive posts.
As of Friday, Gascón’s X account was no longer active.
“I have been threatened with death,’ Gascón says amid Twitter controversy
In a lengthy statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter on Friday, she said, “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,” she continued. “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.”
She added, “Perhaps my words are not correct, many times due to ignorance or pure mistake. I apologize again if anyone has ever felt offended or in the future.”
Contributing: KiMi Robinson, Pamela Avila
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