Karla Sofía Gascón has alienated another ally. In a candid interview with Deadline, Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard revealed that he has put distance between himself and his Oscar-nominated star amid her messy social media scandal. “I haven’t spoken to her, and I don’t want to,” Audiard told the outlet.
Last week a scandal erupted after journalist Sarah Hagi unearthed a number of racist and Islamophobic posts, made over the span of several years, from Gascón’s personal X account. After the initial thread went viral, internet sleuths discovered multiple other offensive remarks posted on Gascón’s feed, with subjects including George Floyd, an Oscars ceremony, and even, allegedly, her Emilia Pérez costar Selena Gomez. In the aftermath, Gascón deactivated her X account and issued a series of apologies, while simultaneously alleging that some of the tweets, like the one about Gomez, were completely fabricated. “As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain,” said Gascón in her first public apology. “All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.”
In the days that followed, Gascón continued to release apologies and statements on her Instagram account and even made a guest appearance on CNN, setting up the interview without Netflix’s assistance or knowledge. “I have been judged, condemned, sacrificed, crucified, and stoned without a trial and without the option to defend myself,” Gascón said in the sit-down, which was translated from Spanish by CNN.
Gascón, the first openly trans person to land an acting nomination at the Academy Awards, has since become a liability for the Emilia Pérez team. “I don’t have any tolerance for any negative rhetoric towards people of any group,” her costar Zoe Saldaña, also an Oscar nominee, said at a recent Emilia Pérez screening. Netflix has reportedly distanced itself from the titular star as well, with images of Gascón omitted from a recent FYC campaign poster; Vanity Fair has learned that the streamer is no longer in direct communication with the actor.
And neither, apparently, is Audiard. In the Deadline interview, the French director said the situation was “very unfortunately” taking over the conversation around the movie, later adding that he had not spoken to Gascón about the controversy. “She is in a self-destructive approach that I can’t interfere in, and I really don’t understand why she’s continuing,” Audiard said. “Why is she harming herself? Why? I don’t understand it, and what I don’t understand about this, too, is why she’s harming people who were very close to her.”
Audiard also did not sound moved by Gascón’s repeated apologies and statements. He believes she is “really playing the victim,” he said, and that what Gascón allegedly said in the past is “inexcusable.”
“She’s talking about herself as a victim, which is surprising. It’s as if she thought that words don’t hurt,” he continued. “I’m not getting in touch with her because right now she needs space to reflect and take accountability for her actions.”
Audiard also used the interview to address other criticisms lobbed at his film. He clarified comments he previously made about Spanish being “a language of modest countries, of developing countries, of the poor and immigrants,” saying that his intention was to make an international film. “There’s not a lot of languages that you have to choose from,” he said. “There’s English and there’s Spanish, and Spanish is such a rich language that crosses borders.” He also expressed regret over, and provided an explanation for, the choice to shoot Emilia Pérez in France rather than Mexico, where the film is set. “The public funding for film in Mexico was not as good for us as what was…available to us in France through these extraordinary institutions, the CNC and regional film funding,” he said.
Emilia Pérez is nominated for 13 Oscars, with Gascón and Saldaña nominated in the lead- and supporting-actress categories, respectively, and Audiard nominated for five awards, including best director, best adapted screenplay, and best picture. Gascón previously shared that despite the controversy, she has no plans to walk away from her historic nomination. “I cannot step down from an Oscar nomination because I have not committed any crime, nor have I harmed anyone,” said Gascón, according to CNN. “I am neither racist nor anything that all these people have tried to make others believe I am.”
Audiard, however, may feel differently. “I’m thinking in this thing of how hurting others, of how she’s hurting the crew and all these people who worked so incredibly hard on this film,” he said. “I’m thinking of myself, I’m thinking of Zoe [Saldaña] and Selena [Gomez]. I just don’t understand why she’s continuing to harm us.”
