Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón has given an emotional interview defending herself after a series of offensive social media posts emerged last week.
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The actor appeared on CNN en Español last Sunday (February 2) in an hour-long interview in which she described her experiences during the days since the posts were brought to light.
As reported by Deadline, she said: “I believe I have been judged, I have been convicted and sacrificed and crucified and stoned without a trial and without the option to defend myself.”
Saying that she related to the struggles of Black people, she continued: “I feel and very much identify with the people who were thrown off buses for the colour of their skin, with the people who did not want them to study at university, for the people who were hated simply for existing, like how I am hated in this moment.”
Gascón came under scrutiny after the 2025 Oscar nominations were revealed. She is the first openly trans actress to be in the running for the Best Actress award, and musical crime thriller Emilia Pérez is the most nominated film of the year, with a total of 13 nods.
The posts, shared on X (formerly Twitter), included controversial opinions on Muslims, the murder of George Floyd, and the Oscars themselves. Gascón issued an apology regarding the posts on January 31, saying she was “deeply sorry”.
During the new interview, the actor broke down in tears, reiterating that she is “not racist”, and offered her “most sincere apologies to all the people who may have felt offended for the way I express myself in my past, in my present and in my future.”
She said: “I have not stopped receiving hate, death threats, insults, abuses. I have not seen anyone who has come out, in any media, any space, any place, raise their hand for me and say, ‘Hey, what is happening with this person who you are massacring?’ And no one, no one has lifted a single finger for change.”
In defence of her posts, Gascón said that she relies on “irony, sarcasm and at times exaggeration and of course I use a resource to talk in third person, if what I wrote was written by someone who thinks in a negative manner,” and that she is “obviously” a supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Since the posts resurfaced, the star deactivated her X account, and said that they were taken out of context.
Her Emilia Pérez co-star and fellow Oscar nominee Zoe Saldaña has spoken out about the situation, saying “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.”
Saldaña continued: “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. It just saddens me.”
Whether Gascón or Emilia Pérez go on to win any Academy Awards will be revealed during the ceremony on March 2.