Karla Sofía Gascón, a historic Best Actress Oscar nominee this year for “Emilia Peréz,” has accused social media supporters of fellow nominee Fernanda Torres (“I’m Still Here”) of trying to “discredit” her work — but insists she is a big fan of the acclaimed Brazilian actress.
The “Emilia Peréz” star, who is now the first transgender woman nominated for Best Actress, told Brazilian news outlet Folha de S. Paulo, translated to English, “I do not like that there is a social media team that work around these people that are attempting to discredit my work and my film because that does not take us anywhere.”
She also says in the video, “You will never see me talking negatively about Fernanda Torres or her film, but on the contrary, I do see many people working around Fernanda Torres who talk badly about me, and ‘Emilia Pérez.’ I think that speaks more about them and their film than of me.”
While criticizing another nominee is strictly against Academy rules, Gascón later issued a statement that she was not attacking Torres or anyone else “directly associated” with “I’m Still Here” in the widely shared interview with the Brazilian outlet.
“I am an enormous fan of Fernanda Torres and it has been wonderful getting to know her the past few months,” Gascón wrote, clarifying that she was “referencing the toxicity and violent hate speech on social media that I sadly continue to experience.” She added, “Fernanda has been a wonderful ally, and no one directly associated with her has been anything but supportive and hugely generous.”
“This is not a competition, this is simply people that like one’s work or not,” Gascón added. “If [Torres] wins [the Oscar], great. If I win, same.”
Just days ago, Torres spoke out on Instagram and asked her followers for more kindness, expressing that she also has admiration for Gascón. “Everybody deserves our affection. Let’s not feed hate,” the “I’m Still Here” actress said. “And I want to say that Karla Sofía Gascón, I love you forever. A generous woman, talented that deserves all our affection.”
Gascón and Torres are both nominated for Best Actress alongside Demi Moore (“The Substance”), Cynthia Erivo (“Wicked”) and Mikey Madison (“Anora”).
Many, like in the X post embed above, have argued that Gascón violated Academy rules by commenting on another nominee while others are saying it is clear she was well within her boundaries. The Academy’s regulations state “… social media (including Facebook and Twitter) or any other forms of public communication by anyone directly associated with an eligible film attempting to cast a negative or derogatory light on a competing film or achievement will not be tolerated.”
However, it appeared that Gascón’s comments were not disparaging of her co-nominee’s performance, but the culture of competition built around them in their respective awards campaigns as Oscars Sunday draws closer.
