Oscar-nominated Emilia Perez star Karla Sofia Gascón has come under fire after old tweets have resurfaced showing Gascón making derogatory comments about Muslims, George Floyd, the COVID-19 vaccine, and Oscars diversity.
The old social media posts are threatening to upend Netflix’s Oscar campaign for Gascón — who has been riding a way of positive publicity for being the first openly transgender performer to ever receive an Academy Award nomination. Major Hollywood trade publications are running with the story as Oscar voters prepare to cast their final ballots starting in February.
While Gascón appears to have deleted the old tweets, screenshots verified by Variety are currently circulating online. The posts appears to have been first dug up by an independent journalist named Sarah Hagi.
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. there are more than a dozen… pic.twitter.com/1rcNzkJXuo
— sarah hagi (@KindaHagi) January 30, 2025
In one tweet from November 2020, the actor wrote: “I’m Sorry, Is it just my impression or is there more muslims in Spain? Every time I go to 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.”
Another Islam-themed post from the same year read:
“Islam is marvelous, without any machismo. Women are respected, and when they are so respected they are left with a little squared hole on their faces for their eyes to be visible and their mouths, but only if she behaves. Although they dress this way for their own enjoyment. How DEEPLY DISGUSTING OF HUMANITY.”
The following year, Gascón expressed disgust for other organized religions.
“I am so sick of so much of this shit, of islam, of christianity, of catholicism and of all the fucking beliefs of morons that violate human rights.”
Gascón also weighed in about George Floyd.
“I really 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 monkeys Without rights and consider policemen to be assassins,” the post from . “They’re all wrong.”
Another post took aim at the COVID-19 vaccine.
“The Chinese vaccine, apart from the mandatory chip, comes with two spring rolls, a cat that moves its hand, 2 plastic flowers, a pop-up lantern, 3 telephone lines and one euro for your first controlled.”
Gascón even denigrated the 2021 Oscars ceremony — the year a black actor and a Korean actress were among the winners.
“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.”
Karla Sofia Gascón recently accused the team behind a rival Oscar nominee of launching a smear campaign.
The trans actor accused the team behind Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres, the star of the political thriller I’m Still Here, of trying to “discredit my work and my film.”
