Karla Sofía Gascón Skipping Critics Choice, PGAs & Other L.A. Awards Events Amid Controversy; Appearance At Spain’s Goya Awards In Play
In the wake of revelations about controversial past statements by Karla Sofía Gascón, the Oscar-nominated Emilia Pérez star, has scaled back and shifted her awards-season appearances, according to multiple sources.
From what we understand, Gascón won’t be at the Critics Choice Awards on Friday where she’s nominated for Best Actress. It is one of 10 noms there for the Jacques Audiard-directed, Cannes-winning movie at the delayed ceremony, whose voting closed before Gascón’s controversial comments came to light.
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The actress also won’t be putting in an appearance at the PGA Awards on Saturday after we heard she was expected to present. In addition, a lineup for an Emilia Pérez FYC panel slated for this Wednesday, which originally included Gascón, has now been changed, with the actress no longer scheduled to attend.
Instead, sources tell us the first openly trans female Best Actress Oscar nominee is heading to Saturday’s Goya Awards in her native Spain, where Emilia Pérez is only up for one award, Best European Film.
Per sources, Gascón’s appearances are a fluid situation, with the actress believed to be currently in Spain. We are also told that her U.S.-based reps, including UTA and PR firm Lede, as well as Netflix, which has distribution rights to Emilia Pérez in the U.S., Canada and the UK, haven’t strategized or been privy to Gascón’s post-controversy campaign, which has included social media posts as well as a Sunday interview on CNN en Espa?ol where she claimed she was “not racist” following the unearthing of past racist and Islamophobic tweets.
Amid a breakdown in communication and lack of appearances by Gascón in Netflix territories post-controversy, we hear the streamer has not had discussions with her reps about curbing awards-season expenses. Typically, above-the-line nominees are provided travel accommodations as well as a stipend for a stylist at awards-show functions.
But it’s fair to say that Netflix’s FYC efforts have shifted recently to focus largely on Emilia Pérez’s Supporting actress Zoe Salda?a, Best Picture and Best Song chances. That is at least in part driven by the awards-season momentum in the categories following Golden Globes wins. Still, the controversy surrounding Gascón is clearly playing a role, with a new FYC ad for the movie circulated this week not featuring the acting nominee at all as Netflix is looking to limit the scandal’s impact on the film’s other 12 Oscar nominees.
It’s TBD whether Gascón attends the SAG Awards on February 23 when she’s up for Best Female Actor in addition to Emilia Pérez’s Ensemble Cast and Salda?a’s Best Supporting noms. Ditto for the March 2 Oscars, where it remains unclear whether she will be present.
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In Gascón’s since-deleted tweets, she called George Floyd a “drug addict and a hustler” and the 93rd Oscars an “Afro-Korean festival” following wins by Daniel Kaluuya and Yuh-Jung Youn, among other racist comments. Headlines began to surface after freelance culture writer Sarah Hagi uncovered the tweets on January 30, the same day PGA Awards voting closed; Emilia Pérez is nominated for Best Feature at that event.
For the Critics Choice Awards, delayed by the Los Angeles wildfires, voting closed January 10.
All eyes will be on whether this scandal slows down Emilia Pérez‘s chances at the SAG Awards, which close voting February 21, as well as the Oscars’ second phase, which commences voting February 11.
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