Emilia Perez star Karla Sofia Gascon has apologised for old social media posts, including messages that denigrated Islam and called George Floyd “a drug addict and a hustler”.
Gascon, who is the star of the largely Spanish-language Netflix musical, said in a statement via the streaming platform: “As someone in a marginalised 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.”
Gascon has made history as the first transgender performer to be nominated for an Oscar for best actress for her role in the genre-defying musical.
The most nominated in the Academy Awards race, Emilia Perez is up for 13 gongs, including supporting actress, original score, director, international feature film and best picture.
It has already won four Golden Globes, including best motion picture – musical or comedy.
The movie is directed by French filmmaker Jacques Audiard.
Netflix will be hoping the controversy doesn’t derail the film’s chances of winning statuettes.
Old posts from Gascon’s Twitter account – some going as far back as 2016 – resurfaced this week. In them, she took aim at Muslims’ dress, language and culture in her native Spain and suggested Islam should be banned.
And less than a month after the killing of George Floyd by a white police officer in 2020 prompted a global reckoning with police brutality and racism, Gascon called Floyd a drug addict who “very few people ever cared” for.
The now-deleted posts were screenshotted and shared by writer Sarah Hagi, who wrote: “This is all from the star of a movie that is campaigning on its progressive values, you really gotta laugh.
“Stuff like this doesn’t get flagged because you can say whatever you want about Muslims, it’s never considered racist. again, this isn’t even all of them.”
Gascon was a regular in Mexican telenovelas before transitioning in 2018.
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Gascon previously told NBC News, Sky News’ US partner, that she had helped shape the film’s transgender storyline: “I’m one of the few people on the team that speaks Spanish, and I was one of the first to join, so I really got to see the development of this project and involve myself in it.
“I added anything that I could to make it a little bit more realistic and a little bit more aligned with what it was trying to do.”
Gascon is not the first celebrity to regret old social media posts, with James Gunn, Trevor Noah and Blake Shelton all previously facing repercussions of past actions.
All have rebounded, with Gunn getting rehired to direct the third Guardians of the Galaxy film for Marvel and the upcoming Superman reboot; Noah is hosting this weekend’s Grammy Awards and Shelton was a coach on NBC’s The Voice for years.
