- Karla Sofía Gascón said in an interview with CNN en Español that she would not “step down from” her Oscar nomination amid controversy, “because I have not committed any crime”
- The Emilia Pérez actress addressed allegations of racism and Islamophobia, as well as her supposed tweet against costar Selena Gomez
- “I am neither racist nor anything that all these people have tried to make others believe I am,” Gascón said in the interview
Karla Sofía Gascón will not be removing herself from contention at the upcoming Academy Awards, amid her ongoing controversies.
The Emilia Pérez star, who is nominated for Best Actress at this year’s ceremony, sat down with CNN en Español for an hour-long interview with anchor Juan Carlos Arciniegas that aired on Sunday, Feb. 2, where she addressed allegations of racism and Islamophobia, as well as her supposed tweet against her Emilia Pérez costar Selena Gomez.
When asked if she would renounce her Oscar nomination — which marks the first time an openly transgender woman has been nominated for Best Actress at the awards show — Gascón, 52, said, “I cannot renounce a nomination because what I have done is a job and what is being valued is my acting work,” per a translation by The Hollywood Reporter.
She continued, per CNN, “I cannot step down from an Oscar nomination because I have not committed any crime, nor have I harmed anyone. I am neither racist nor anything that all these people have tried to make others believe I am.”
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During the interview with CNN, in which she got visibly emotional, Gascón also addressed her since-deleted X posts about the 2020 murder of George Floyd that brought viral attention to the Black Lives Matter movement.
In the series of posts, the Netflix star called Floyd “a drug addict and a hustler” and said “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,” per THR.
Explaining the posts to CNN, Gascón reportedly said her words were misconstrued and that she was trying to make a point about Floyd’s newfound support. “He was a person who had been in a very difficult situation in his life and no one had helped him, and suddenly he becomes a symbol of a cause and everyone loved him,” the actress explained.
“But for someone to think that … I have ever insulted a person because of their skin color, I do not allow that to anyone,” she added.
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In regards to her alleged Islamophobic posts, which were uncovered by reporter Sarah Hagi, Gascón told CNN that she had a relationship with a Muslim woman “whom I adore, whom I love and who has taught me so much about respect for people.” She also claimed that she was expressing her opposition to radical Islam.
Additionally, Gascón addressed the controversial tweet in which she reportedly called Gomez, 32, a “rich rat” amid her rumored feud with Hailey Bieber, refuting its existence.
“It’s not mine, of course,” she claimed, per CNN. “I have never said anything about my colleague I would never refer to her that way.”
Ultimately, the actress claimed she has never caused harm to anyone. “What have I done in my life? What have I done? I haven’t killed a single fly,” she said in the CNN interview, according to a translation from Deadline and THR. “When I have a spider in my house I put a little glass on it so as not to kill it and take it out to the street.”
Gascón is nominated in the Best Actress category alongside Cynthia Erivo, Mikey Madison, Demi Moore and Fernanda Torres, while Emilia Pérez is up for 13 awards total (including Best Picture and Best Director for Jacques Audiard), making it the most-nominated film this year.
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