After the scandal over her past racist tweets, Karla Sofia Gascón promised to halt her apology tour and let the Oscar-nominated “Emilia Pérez” “speak for itself.”
She mentioned the comments of the film’s director, Jacques Audiard, were behind her decision. On Wednesday, Audiard told Deadline that Gascón’s resurfaced tweets were “inexcusable” and lamented that her “self-destructive approach” was hurting the film and her costars, Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez.
“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. I sincerely apologize to everyone who has been hurt along the way,” Gascón wrote on Instagram.
In the fallout from Gascón’s old social media posts — which included calling for a ban on Muslims in Europe and criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement — the Academy stated it would suspend the practice of having previous Best Actress winners praise the current nominees this year.
Saldaña, who is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for the film, said recently at a Q&A in Lond that she is “disappointed” and “saddened” by Gascón’s posts. “I don’t have any tolerance for any negative rhetoric towards people of any group.”
Gascón has made numerous apologies since her tweets were resurfaced, including an hour-long TV interview in which she tearfully insisted, “I am not a racist.”
