Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofia Gascon has become the most controversial star of Oscars season.
After initially being celebrated by Hollywood as the first transgender woman to earn a Best Actress nomination, the Spanish star, 52, became a toxic figure in Tinseltown when her past social media posts resurfaced.
In the offensive posts, Gascon took aim at Islam, mocked her Emilia Perez co-star Selena Gomez, criticized the Oscars, and shared politically incorrect opinions on Covid and George Floyd.
The brutal fallout from the posts has dashed her chance at winning the Best Actress Oscar, with Netflix yanking her from the Oscars campaign for Emilia Perez, while the Spanish musical’s director Jacques Audiard publicly condemned Gascon and has severed his relationship with her.
Despite the scandal enveloping Gascon’s career, PR expert Eric Schiffer of Reputation Management Consultants believes that there could be a silver lining to the scandal.
Although Schiffer described Gascon’s controversy as ‘self-inflicted brand suicide’, he said that there’s an opportunity for her to capitalize on her newfound name recognition.
Prior to the controversy, Gascon wasn’t well known outside of her work in Mexican telenovelas, and had even been overshadowed in Emilia Perez by her more famous co-stars like Gomez and Zoe Saldana.
‘The scandal made her a name that people actually know, whereas prior, she was invisible,’ Schiffer explained.
‘And while she’s in big time problems and it’s dangerous to her brand, she also is not continuing to support these statements, right? She’s admonishing them. She’s regretful. She’s owning her words and taking responsibility for what she did,’ he continued.
‘That personal growth can be expanded upon by reflecting on what may have been underlying biases that informed her, or further seeking education on cultural sensitivity.’
Schiffer said that Gascon’s next step to ‘rebrand’ herself would be to capitalize on her name ID and use it to show that she’s ‘matured’.
However, Schiffer also said that the damage Gascon has caused will be ‘difficult to undo’, and that despite her repeated apologies, she still hasn’t done enough yet to turn public opinion back in her favor.
‘She’s issues public apologies and expressed regret, but it’s not tracked yet and I think she’s going to have to do something, maybe multiple one-on-one interviews, where people can see that she really does get it,’ he said.
‘I think there’s a skepticism at this point. And then she needs to take action with Muslim communities and others that she’s alienated.’
Netflix reportedly invested millions into the awards push for Emilia Perez, which is currently up for a whopping 13 awards at next month’s Oscars – the most of any film this year.
Speaking to DailyMail.com earlier this month, Debra Birnbaum from the awards show predictions website Gold Derby said that it would be hard for Gascon to bounce back from this in time for the Oscars and that Demi Moore is most likely to win Best Actress.
‘Emilia Perez had tremendous buzz coming out of the Cannes Film Festival, where it won the jury prize and the stars shared the Best Actress award,’ Birnbaum explained.
‘And while the film had its detractors, there was also an incredible groundswell of support for the history being made as the first openly trans performer to be nominated for an acting award,’ she continued.
‘Though voting doesn’t begin until February 11, it’s going to be hard for her campaign to recover in time to sway public opinion.’
Despite the drama, Birnnaum is still optimistic about Saldana’s chance at Oscar glory.
‘That’s the big question being debated right now: Will voters be able to separate the star from the film?’ she said.
‘The film’s strategists will obviously be doing all they can to stem the damage and make sure it doesn’t impact other races that the film was favored to win, like Best Picture and Best International Feature – and especially Best Supporting Actress, where Zoe Saldana has been considered all but a lock.’
Gascon has issued multiple apologies and statements since her offensive social media posts first resurfaced.
‘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,’ Gascon wrote in the statement via The Hollywood Reporter.
‘I have been threatened with death, insulted, abused and harassed to the point of exhaustion,’ she wrote.
‘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 any event against racism, freedom of religion or homophobia, in the same way that I have criticized the hypocrisy that underlies them, because the first thing I am self-critical of is myself,’ she added.
That statement comes on the heels of her first apology, in which she said she was ‘deeply sorry’ for any ‘hurt’ and ‘pain’ she may have caused in tweets she made on X.
In a post on Instagram on Friday, Gascon vowed to keep her mouth shut and her fingers away from social media for the good of Emilia Perez after director Jacques Audiard accused her of ‘self sabotage’ and said that she was hurting the film and her co-stars by refusing to stay silent.
‘I decided, for the film, for Jacques, for the cast, for the incredible crew who deserves it, for the beautiful adventure we all had together, to let the work talk for itself, hoping my silence will allow the film to be appreciated for what it is, a beautiful ode to love and difference,’ the 52-year-old star wrote.
Muslim writer Sarah Hagi uncovered the posts, which included a controversial 2020 remark about Muslims in Spain, where Gascon expressed discomfort about the increasing presence of Muslim women in head coverings.
Another post disparaged the Islamic faith and its treatment of women, calling it ‘disgusting.’
Gascon also weighed in on the death of George Floyd, claiming few cared about his death and suggesting the issue was more about social class than racism.
‘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. They’re all wrong,’ she posted.
‘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.’
Additionally, she criticized the Oscars in 2021, calling the ceremony ‘ugly’ and too focused on protest films.
‘I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M,’ she tweeted.
In another post, Gascon body-shamed Adele over her weight loss, speculating that the singer had excess skin after her transformation.
