Emilia Pérez star Selena Gomez is finally addressing the controversy surrounding the Netflix film, which she says has taken away from its “magic.” Though the movie had already been causing a stir in the LGBTQ+ and Latino communities, it was the unearthed tweets of Karla Sofía Gascón that really amped up the drama, many of which were called racist and Islamophobic. As such, everyone from the film’s director to fellow co-star Zoe Saldaña has weighed in on the brouhaha, with Gomez being the latest to add her voice to the mix.
Gomez was on hand at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Sunday (via People), appearing on a panel to help promote Emilia Pérez in its run up to the Academy Awards on Mar. 2, where it’s nominated for 13 trophies. When asked by one guest how she’s doing amidst all the controversy, Gomez replied, “I’m good. I’m really good,” adding:
“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.”
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Both Gomez and Gascón were given the Virtuosos Award during the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (Gascón was not there in person), which recognizes “a select group of talent whose noteworthy performances in films has propelled them into the forefront of national cinematic conversation.” We wouldn’t necessarily say that it was Gascón’s performance that put her in the “national cinematic conversation,” but there you have it. We don’t pick the winners. Also recognized were Saldaña (American Riviera Award) and director Jacques Audiard (Outstanding Directors of the Year).
Karla Sofía Gascón Denied Calling Selena Gomez a “Rich Rat”
In addition to having controversial views on everything from George Floyd to Islam, one of Gascón’s tweets seemingly took aim at Gomez herself. Apparently written in 2022 during a supposed feud between Gomez and Hailey Bieber, the post read: “She’s a rich rat who plays the poor b*tch whenever she can and will never stop bothering her ex-boyfriend and his wife.”
Appearing on CNN en Español back on Feb. 2, Gascón denied ever writing the post, saying it was a doctored image being shared that was falsely attributed to her. “It’s not mine, of course,” she said. “I have never said anything about my colleague. I would never refer to her that way.”
“People have dedicated themselves to searching, to put together all the things that I had said at a time that I had written — most of which are false … most of them I don’t even recognize that I wrote them. And they put them all together and so it seems that she is a very bad person and we remove her just when we can do the most damage, right in the voting period.”
Speaking of the voting period, that’s coming to an end on Feb. 18, and while Gascón was never really the front-runner to take home the award for Best Actress at the 97th Academy Awards, whatever slim chance she had has surely all but disappeared by now. You can see for yourself how it all shakes out when the ceremony is broadcast live on Mar. 2 on ABC, and streamed simultaneously on Hulu. Emilia Pérez is now available on Netflix.
