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Selena Gomez has addressed the controversy surrounding her Oscar-nominated film, Emilia Pérez.
Speaking at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Sunday, the 32-year-old actor was asked how she was doing amid the backlash surrounding her co-star, Karla Sofia Gascón.
“I'm good. I'm really good. Some of the magic has disappeared, but I choose to continue to be proud of what I've done,” she said about the hit Netflix film. “And I'm just grateful.”
“I live with no regrets and I would do this movie over and over again if I could,” she added.
Gomez’s remarks came after journalist Sarah Hagi uncovered years-old tweets from the trans actor displaying Islamophobic and racist rhetoric.
One tweet showed Gascón previously calling Gomez a “rich rat,” which the Oscar nominee has since denied.
“It’s not mine, of course,” Gascón, who was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role, said during an interview with CNN en Español earlier this month. “I have never said anything about my colleague. I would never refer to her that way.”
Outrage erupted against Gascón last month after a series of offensive tweets shared from her X/Twitter account between 2020 and 2021 resurfaced.
One from September 2020 read: “Islam is marvelous, without any machismo. Women are respected, and when they are so respected they are left with a little squared hole on their faces for their eyes to be visible and their mouths, but only if she behaves ... How DEEPLY DISGUSTING OF HUMANITY.”
Another from November 2020 stated: “I’m Sorry, Is it just my impression or [are] there more muslims in Spain? Every time I go to pick up my daughter from school there are more women with their hair covered and their skirts down to their heels. Next year instead of English we’ll have to teach Arabic.”
After deleting the controversial tweets, Gascón said in a statement to The Independent: “I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt. 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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During her hour-long interview with CNN en Español, Gascón broke down in tears as she answered questions about her social media history, telling interviewer Juan Carlos Arciniegas that she was “not a racist.”
Regarding her tweets that have been condemned as Islamophobic, Gascón said she had been voicing criticism of radical Islam, and had not caused harm to anyone.
She also said she had a relationship with a Muslim woman “whom I adore, whom I love and who has taught me so much about respect for people.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Netflix has since removed Gascón from promotional emails and plans to edit the film’s posters, giving her co-star Zoe Saldaña more prominence. The publication claimed that Netflix won’t cover any of Gascón’s travel fees to promote the film in the build up to the Academy Awards on March 2.
In an interview with Deadline, Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard condemned Gascón’s “hateful” and “inexcusable” tweets.
“It’s very hard for me to think back to the work I did with Karla Sofía. The trust we shared, the exceptional atmosphere that we had on the set that was indeed based on trust,” he said. “When you have that kind of relationship and suddenly you read something that that person has said, things that are absolutely hateful and worthy of being hated, of course, that relationship is affected. It’s as if you fall into a hole.”
In January, Gascón made history as the first-ever trans woman to be nominated for an Oscar in any acting category. The film received 13 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Best Film Editing, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Saldaña.
Not everyone was impressed, though. The Independent film critic Clarisse Loughrey argued “Emilia Pérez’s Oscar nomination haul is regression masquerading as progress.”
