Selena Gomez breaks silence on 'Emilia Pe?rez' co-star's offensive posts

Selena Gomez is breaking her silence as her film "Emilia Pe?rez" is embroiled in a PR crisis due to past social media posts from co-star Karla Sofía Gascón.

In a Q&A about her Virtuosos Award win during the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Sunday, the Golden Globe nominee admitted that the recent controversy has impacted the way she's been feeling as the Netflix crime drama musical collects trophies at Hollywood award shows.

"I'm good. I'm really good," Gomez, 32, said. "Some of the magic has disappeared. But I choose to continue to be proud of what I’ve done, and I’m just grateful. I live with no regrets, and I would do this movie over and over again if I could."

Gomez's comment comes days after director Jacques Audiard distanced himself from Gascón in a Feb. 5 interview with Deadline, calling her past social media posts "inexcusable" and confirming he had not been in contact with her since they became public. In recent weeks, Gascón has made a number of public statements in response to her racist and xenophobic social media posts that an X user resurfaced at the end of January.

This is a critical time for Hollywood's award season, with final votes for the March 2 Academy Awards due on Feb. 18. "Emilia Pe?rez" leads with 13 nominations.

Gascón has offered her "sincerest apologies" for her past comments aimed at Muslim people, Oscars diversity and George Floyd, which were seemingly posted as recently as 2020. However, she also denounced the people who brought her years-old posts to the forefront, writing, "They have achieved their objective, to stain my existence with lies or things taken out of context."

In a 50-minute interview with Juan Carlos Arciniegas for CNN en Espa?ol on Feb. 2, Gascón said she did not "recognize" some of the old posts social media users have called out, per CNN.

Selena Gomez casts doubt on future of her music career

During the Q&A, Gomez expressed excitement for her acting career, which has been marked by Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for "Only Murders in the Building" and "Emilia Pe?rez," respectively.

"Having someone see something in me besides the obvious was such a special experience," Gomez said. "The director just really trusted me, and I was so grateful because I’ve gotten to show people that I am capable of doing more. And I hope this is just the beginning for me in this field."

She also cast doubt on her future as a singer.

'Emilia Pérez' controversy: Why 'torturous' movie is criticized for its representation

"I'm ready to just focus on this for a while," Gomez said. " I think film and art making and being around such incredible, talented people that have done nothing but uplift me along the way. I don’t know, it’s going to be hard for me to ever go back to music after this."

After the film festival crowd expressed shock at this admission, Gomez laughed for at least 10 seconds. When asked whether she would "never say never," the Disney Channel alum replied: "Maybe."

Gascón was also among this year's recipients of the Virtuosos Award but was not in attendance at the film festival. The award, which is presented to "'up-and-coming' actors for achieving a breakthrough performance," also named Kieran Culkin, Ariana Grande, Mikey Madison Harris Dickinson, Clarence Maclin and John Magaro as honorees.

Meanwhile, "Emilia Pe?rez" co-star Zoe Salda?a was named the recipient of SBIFF's American Riviera Award, which honors "outstanding achievement in American film." The actress has also criticized Gascón's posts.

"It makes me really sad because I don't support (it), and I don't have any tolerance for any negative rhetoric towards people of any group," Salda?a said at a Q&A on Jan. 31, per a video by The Hollywood Reporter.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Selena Gomez breaks silence on Karla Sofia Gascon's offensive tweets