Emilia Pérez, which stars Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña, and Karla Sofía Gascón, immediately stood out as an Oscar contender when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, and then won the Golden Globes for Best Musical and Best Non-English Language Motion Picture. But recently, the film has been shrouded by controversy after some offensive tweetsKarla posted between 2019 and 2024 resurfaced — and star Selena Gomez just broke her silence.
Here's what Selena Gomez had to say about Emilia Pérez amid Karla Sofía Gascón's controversy.
Selena Gomez would do 'Emilia Pérez' "over and over again" despite the controversy.
Selena Gomez finally broke her silence on the Emilia Pérez controversy during the Santa Barbara Film Festival on February 9. "I'm really good," she said. "Some of the magic has disappeared, but I choose to continue to be proud of what I’ve done, and I’m just, I’m just grateful and live with no regrets. And I would do this movie over and over again if I could."
Karla Sofía Gascón's past tweets, in which the actress critiqued Muslim culture, George Floyd's death, and the direction the Oscars were going (via CNN), also allegedly referred to Selena Gomez as “a rich rat who plays the poor bastard whenever she can and will never stop bothering her ex-boyfriend and his wife.”
But amid the conversations surrounding her past comments, the actress told CNN she would continue her Academy Awards campaign. “I cannot step down from an Oscar nomination because I have not committed any crime nor have I harmed anyone," she said. "I am neither racist nor anything that all these people have tried to make others believe I am."
“As a member of a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and deeply regret having caused pain," she added in a statement. "All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe that light will always triumph over darkness.”
And after Emilia Pérez's director, Jacques Audiard, told Deadline he had distanced himself from Karla (and would continue to do so), she admitted to "understanding" his decision. "Following Jacques interview that I understand, I decided, for the film, for Jacques, for the cast, for the incredible crew who deserves it, for the beautiful adventure we all had together, to let the work talk for itself, hoping my silence will allow the film to be appreciated for what it is, a beautiful ode to love and difference," she says on Instagram. "I sincerely apologize to everyone who has been hurt along the way."
On January 21, in an interview with Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, Karla Sofía Gascón also seemingly called out the team for I'm Still Here (which also snagged some Oscar noms) for "tearing" Emilia Pérez down.
“What I don’t like are social media teams — people who work with these people — trying to diminish our work, like me and my movie, because that doesn’t lead anywhere," she says (via Variety). "You don’t need to tear down someone’s work to highlight another’s. I have never, at any point, said anything bad about Fernanda Torres or her movie. However, there are people working with Fernanda Torres tearing me and Emilia Pérez down. That speaks more about their movie than mine.”
Since the Academy Awards website specifically says Oscar campaigns cannot use "any tactic that singles out 'the competition' by name or title is expressly forbidden," Karla later clarified why her comments shouldn't be considered targeted.
She said in a statement, “I am an enormous fan of Fernanda Torres and it has been wonderful getting to know her the past few months. In my recent comments, I was referencing the toxicity and violent hate speech on social media that I sadly continue to experience. Fernanda has been a wonderful ally, and no one directly associated with her has been anything but supportive and hugely generous.”
Check back for more updates on Emilia Pérez and Karla Sofía Gascón as this is a developing story.
