Karla Sofia Gascón releases new statement after shutting down X account: ‘I have been threatened with death, insulted, abused, and harassed’
One day after apologizing “to those I have caused pain” for offensive social media posts, Emilia Pérez star and Best Actress nominee Karla Sofia Gascón has deactivated her X account.
“I’m sorry, but I can no longer allow this campaign of hate and misinformation to affect neither my family nor me anymore, so at their request I am closing my account on X,” Gascón wrote about the decision in a lengthy statement released exclusively to The Hollywood Reporter. “I have been threatened with death, insulted, abused and harassed to the point of exhaustion. I have a wonderful daughter to protect, whom I love madly and who supports me in everything. I had long ago made the decision to close a social network [sic], which has taken a terrible turn, in which I have also sometimes fallen, and for which I apologize.”
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On Thursday, several inflammatory posts Gascón wrote in 2020 and 2021 were unearthed, revealing controversial opinions about Muslims, the murder of George Floyd, and the 2021 Oscars.
In a post from Nov. 22, 2020, Gascón wrote, “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 Floyd was murdered on May 25, 2020, she wrote, “Let me get this straight, a guy tries to pass off a counterfeit bill after consuming methamphetamine, an idiot policeman arrives and goes too far in arresting him, killing him, ruining the lives of his family and his colleagues, and turning the guy with the bill into a martyr hero. I truly believe that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict and a hustler, but his death has served to highlight once again that there are those who still consider Black people to be monkeys without rights and those who consider the police to be murderers. All wrong.”
In another offensive post, the actress targeted the 2021 Oscars ceremony. “More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films; I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala. They forgot to give an award to my cousin’s short film, who is lame,” she wrote. That year’s winners included Nomadland (Best Picture), Chloé Zhao (Best Director for Nomadland), Youn Yuh-jung (Best Supporting Actress for Minari), and Daniel Kaluuya (Best Supporting Actor for Judas and the Black Messiah).
In the wake of the backlash, Gascón released a statement via Emilia Pérez distributor, Netflix. “I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt,” Gascón 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.”
In her new statement, which Gascón sent directly to The Hollywood Reporter, Gascón did not address the content of her past posts but did stress she had changed over time.
“As part of this society, I have expressed my disagreement or agreement with all the related issues that have touched me and of which I have had an opinion, often erroneous, which has changed throughout my own experience,” she said. “I have always used my social media as a diary, reflections or notes, to later create stories or characters, not as something that would be scrutinized down to the last of its 140 characters, since sometimes I, myself, am not even aware of having written something negative.”
She added, “I have defended each and every one of the minorities in this world and supported freedom of religion and any action against racism and homophobia in the same way that I have criticized the hypocrisy that underlies them, because the first thing I am critical of is myself. You will never hear me support a war, an injustice, extremism or applaud anyone who oppresses other human beings. Perhaps my words are not correct, many times due to ignorance or pure mistake. I apologize again if anyone has ever felt offended or in the future.”
While admitting that she is “not perfect” and will “make mistakes” as a human being, Gascón also took issue with people taking her past comments out of context “or manipulating them” to cause her harm.
“I am only responsible for what I say, not for what others say I say or what others interpret from what I say,” she wrote, adding, “I hope to have the opportunity to give a more extensive explanation at some point.”
Gascón made history this year as the first openly trans woman nominated for Best Actress, one of the record 13 Oscar nominations received by Emilia Pérez. In her statement to The Hollywood Reporter — the full version of which can be read online here — Gascón referenced her status as a groundbreaker within the industry.
“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.’”
Before signing off, she asked people to “forgive me once again if any of my words hurt you.”
Representatives for Gascón did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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