Zoe Saldaña Broke Her Silence On “Emilia Perez” Star Karla Sofia Gascón’s Offensive Tweets
The furor continues over Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofia Gascón’s offensive tweets.
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Brief recap: On Thursday, journalist Sarah Hagi uncovered a lot of offensive tweets that Karla — who is currently nominated for a Best Actress Oscar — sent between 2020 and this year.
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The breadth of the bigotry on display was, quite frankly, staggering. There were anti-Islam tweets, offensive tweets about Chinese people, tweets complaining about Black Lives Matter and the 2020 Oscars. You name it, she tweeted about it.
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Karla’s response to the whole affair has also been…not great. On Thursday night, she issued an apology of sorts that many deemed insufficient. “I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt,” she said. “As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.”
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Then, on Friday morning — after more tweets emerged, including one that seemingly defended Adolf Hitler — Karla deactivated her account and released an incendiary statement that went back and forth between more apologizing and seemingly suggesting that the unearthing of tweets amounted to a smear campaign to ruin her Oscar chances.
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“I am only Karla Sofía Gascón, an actress who has reached where very few have thanks to her effort and work, without stealing or harming anyone in this world, just trying to get them to let me live in peace, love and respect, something that seems to bother a lot of people in this world,” she wrote. “It is clear that there is something very dark behind it. But I tell you something: ‘The more you try to sink me, the stronger it will make me. The greater the victory will be.'”
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So…yeah. Obviously, it seems unlikely that anyone involved with Emilia Peréz‘s Oscar campaign will want her to continue doing press right now — but the film’s other stars are still making appearances on behalf of the film, including Zoe Saldaña, who could very well win Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
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During a Q&A in London yesterday, Zoe — who also won the Golden Globe for her performance just last month — addressed Karla’s tweets for the first time (via The Hollywood Reporter).
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“I’m still processing everything that has transpired in the last couple of days, and I’m sad,” she said. “It makes me really sad because I don’t support [it], and I don’t have any tolerance for any negative rhetoric towards people of any group.”
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“I can only attest to the experience that I had with each and every individual that was a part, that is a part, of this film, and my experience and my interactions with them was about inclusivity and collaboration and racial, cultural and gender equity. And it just saddens me.”
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“It saddens me that we are having to face this setback right now. But I’m happy that you’re all here and that you’re all still showing up for Emilia because the message that this film has is so powerful and the change that it can bring forward to communities that are marginalized day in and day out is important.”
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“And all that I can attest is that all of us that came together to tell this story, we came together for love and for respect and curiosity, and we will continue to spread that message. That’s all we can say right now. Thank you.”
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