Karla SofĂa GascĂłn, the Oscar-nominated trans actor and star of of the movie âEmilia PĂ©rez,â is apologizing for her old posts on social media that denigrated Islam and that called George Floyd âa drug addict and a hustler.â
âAs someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain,â the actor said in a statement via Netflix, where her film can be streamed. "All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.â
GascĂłn made history as the first transgender performer to be nominated for the Oscar for best actress, helping make âEmilia PĂ©rezâ the most nominated film going into next month's show. Netflix will be hoping the controversy doesn't derail the film's Oscar chances.
Old posts from Gascon's account on Twitter resurfaced this week, some going as far back as 2016, that took aim at Muslims' dress, language and culture in her native Spain. She also suggested that Islam be banned.
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And less than a month after George Floyd, a Black man, who was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020, prompting a national reckoning with police brutality and racism, GascĂłn offered her assessment of Floyd as a drug addict who âvery few people ever caredâ for.
GascĂłn was a regular in Mexican telenovelas before transitioning in 2018. In âEmilia PĂ©rez,â she plays both a menacing cartel kingpin and the woman who emerges after the kingpin fakes his own death, Emilia PĂ©rez. Years later, Emilia contacts the lawyer who facilitated her transition (Zoe Saldaña) to help her reunite with her wife (Selena Gomez) and their children.
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Old tweets have come back to haunt celebrities before, include James Gunn, Trevor Noah and Blake Shelton. All have rebounded, with Gunn getting rehired to direct the third âGuardians of the Galaxyâ film for Marvel and the upcoming âSupermanâ reboot; Noah is hosting this weekend's Grammy Awards and Shelton was for years a coach on NBC's âThe Voice.â