The controversy surrounding the past tweets of Karla Sofia Gascon—the first transgender individual nominated for an acting Oscar, for her starring role in Emilia Perez—isn't going away. And it's apparently affecting the Oscar campaign that Netflix, the movie's distributor in the US and UK, is trying to run. Screen Daily reports that Gascon hasn't been in contact with Netflix since her surprise CNN interview over the weekend. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, meanwhile, note that Netflix is now trying to salvage the movie's awards chances by putting some light between itself and Gascon. (Voting doesn't conclude until Feb. 18.)
She reportedly won't be showing up to various events in the coming days, including: Thursday's AFI Awards in Beverly Hills; the Critics Choice Awards on Friday in Santa Monica, California; Saturday's Directors Guild of America Awards and Producers Guild of America Awards; and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Sunday. More on the continuing commotion:
- Unearned nomination? Writing for the Guardian, Steve Rose calls the Academy's nod to the film in the first place a "mystery," as the movie has been plagued by criticism for its depiction of Mexico and its culture, as well as for promoting stereotypes around transgender people.
- 'New era of online Oscar scandals': The New York Times dives into how the Gascon controversy is just the most recent entry in a "turbocharged" trend, in which Oscars season has become "a decentralized free-for-all where social-media sleuths and determined fan armies dig up past gaffes, bad tweets, and damaging clips, then amplify them on X, TikTok, and awards-adjacent subreddits." It mentions other Oscar contenders, including Anora and The Brutalist, for similarly finding themselves caught up in minor scandals (over intimacy coordinators and AI, respectively).
- Still a potential win? Yahoo Entertainment notes that although Emilia Perez "had already been established as the villain of awards season," and despite the more recent hubbub over Gascon, it shouldn't be counted out in the Oscars race: "It frequently happens that one film emerges as the most-hated among its peers—and it often wins Best Picture because negative sentiment alone doesn't always sway academy voters."
- A final take: Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Mary McNamara notes how Gascon's "historic Oscar first" has morphed into a "historic Oscars nightmare," noting that Gascon's status as a trans woman doesn't necessarily shield her from the possibility that she herself holds bigoted views. McNamara also offers a caveat: "No one should be using social media as a diary."
(More
Karla Sofia Gascon stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
