“Emilia Pérez” star and Oscar nominee Karla Sofía Gascón is under attack on social media for comments she made in a Brazilian interview about the film “I’m Still Here” and actress Fernanda Torres, one of Gascón’s fellow nominees in the Best Actress category.
Critics of the transgender actress on social media called her statements a violation of the Academy’s campaign regulations, but according to an executive at Netflix, which released “Emilia Pérez,” the Academy has informed the company that they have looked into Gascón’s statements and determined that they do not constitute a campaign violation.
The controversy is the latest surrounding “Emilia Pérez,” the presumed Oscar frontrunner with 13 nominations.
According to a translation of the interview with Brazilian news outlet Folha de S. Paulo, which was conducted in Spanish, Gascon said, “Personally, I think Fernanda Torres is a wonderful woman” and added that she had yet to see “I’m Still Here.” Then she said, “What I really don’t like is that there is a social media team working around these people trying to discredit the work of others — like mine or the movie’s. That leads nowhere. To highlight one person’s work, you don’t need to bring others down. No one has ever seen me speaking badly about Fernanda Torres or her movie. However, I do see many people in Fernanda Torres’ circle speaking badly about me and ‘Emilia Pérez.’ I think that says more about them and their film than about mine.”
“I’m Still Here” does not have a social media profile, and exactly what Gascón was referring to is unclear. In a later statement given to TheWrap, Gascón clarified her comments and put some distance between Torres and the source of any negative statements:
“I am an enormous fan of Fernanda Torres and it has been wonderful getting to know her the past few months,” the statement read. “In my recent comments, I was referencing the toxicity and violent hate speech on social media that I sadly continue to experience. Fernanda has been a wonderful ally, and no one directly associated with her has been anything but supportive and hugely generous.”
For her part, Torres posted a video on X on January 29 in which she praised Gascón for her performance in “Emilia Pérez,” as well as the three other Best Actress nominees, and said: “Everybody there deserves our affection. Let’s not feed hate, you know? And I want to say that Karla Sofía Gascón, I love you forever.” She made a heart shape with her hands.
The Academy’s campaign regulations state, in part, “Public communications (including any social media posts, re-posts, shares, and comments) by Academy members, motion picture companies, or individuals directly associated with an eligible motion picture may not…(e)ncourage or discourage members to vote for any motion picture, performance, or achievement.” That section of the Oscar rules is aimed at regulating social media postings, and does not specifically address comments made by nominees in interviews. (The Academy reserves the right to decide that communications not spelled out in the rules are violations.)
The Academy confirmed with TheWrap that Gascón had not violated any rules.
For months, “Emilia Pérez” has been criticized on social media for its take on the transgender experience and for the fact that it was made by a French director, Jacques Audiard, shot in Paris and cast largely with non-Mexican actors. When the film recently premiered in Mexico, Audiard said in an interview, “If you think I approached it too lightly, I apologize. Cinema’s purpose isn’t to provide answers but to provoke questions.”
He added that the film is his “interpreted reality” of Mexico and that it was meant to have an operatic style rather than a realistic one.
“I spent over four years crafting this story about a country I deeply respect,” he said. “I was very careful. I didn’t want to offend Mexicans, to hurt anyone … If this work can spark conversations and questions, it will have achieved something meaningful.”
