The most nominated film heading into the upcoming Academy Awards is at the center of a controversy, spurred by its lead, Karla Sofia Gascon—but Gascon, the first openly transgender actor up for a golden statue in an acting category, isn't taking herself out of the race. In a Saturday interview with CNN, the 52-year-old Oscar nominee for best actress addressed past social media posts that have gotten her into hot water—including ones about George Floyd, Islam, and the Oscars themselves—offering her "most sincere apologies to all the people who may have felt offended."
"I cannot step down from an Oscar nomination because I have not committed any crime nor have I harmed anyone," Gascon, who has nixed her X account amid the backlash, told the news outlet, noting she didn't "recognize" some of the posts that have resurfaced. "I am neither racist nor anything that all these people have tried to make others believe I am." She added: "As a member of a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and deeply regret having caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe that light will always triumph over darkness."
"I have been judged, condemned, sacrificed, crucified, and stoned without a trial and without the option to defend myself," Gascon said. The BBC notes that most of the eyebrow-raising Gascon tweets were from 2020 and 2021. Gascon specifically addressed one 2022 post, in which she seemed to have slammed Emilia Perez co-star Selena Gomez, per Variety. The tweet: "She's a rich rat who plays the poor bastard whenever she can and will never stop bothering her ex-boyfriend [Justin Bieber] and his wife." On CNN, Gascon insisted the tweet was a fake. "Of course that's not mine," she said. "I have never said anything about my [acting] partner. I would never refer to her that way." (More Karla Sofia Gascon stories.)
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