Karla Sofía Gascón Tries to Clear Her Name—But Did She Just Make It Worse?
Karla Sofía Gascón is back on X (formerly Twitter), and she is asking for forgiveness. The Emilia Pérez actress has been the center of controversy after disparaging tweets resurfaced during the award season. The backlash was swift. She found herself on the outs with co-stars and the studio that hired her for the role. Here’s what she has to say.
Karla Sofía Gascón is asking for forgiveness
Gascón was set to have an incredible year. She was the star of a film that received 13 nominations at the 97th Academy Awards. Her profile was growing. She was the first openly trans woman nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the Oscars. Yet, her past came back to haunt her. Offensive tweets derailed what should have been an enjoyable and historic award season.
Gascón found herself in a scandal about her old tweets shortly after the Oscar nominations were released. The tweets were xenophobic and racist and disparaged her co-star Selena Gomez. Netflix originally pulled its offer to send her to the Oscars and pay for her time in Los Angeles. She did manage to get to the award ceremony and got some screen time.
“Now that the storm is calming down a bit, and the worst has passed (or so I hope), I start seeing clearly what I have learned. I’ve learned that hatred, like fire, cannot be put down with more hatred. Offenses cannot be erased with more offenses, and mistakes cannot clean up other mistakes, especially when lies and falseness proliferate all around and when all they send back to me is pure rage, blatant bullying, vexation, scorn, and even death threats,” Gascón wrote in a statement.
She added: “Fortunately, I have kept my one inch of sanity to see the light at the end of this tunnel of hate and understand that I must be and do better and correct my past faults without engaging in more darkness.”
The nonapology is not fooling people
The lengthy statement is filled with words, but there isn’t a strong apology for the words she used. During her first attempt at apologizing, she claimed she is not the same person she was 10 to 20 years ago. People do grow and change, but the misrepresentation of the timeline of tweets didn’t sit well with people.
Gascón did not write those tweets 10 to 20 years ago. The posts that resurfaced are from 2019 through 2024. She attacked Gomez just months before she started filming Emilia Pérez. Now, with a statement speaking about her experience facing the backlash, she continues to push away accountability.
The only moment she comes close to an apology is when she admits to having said heinous things in the past. In the same sentence, she defends those comments as coming from a place of fear, ignorance, and pain.
People make mistakes. People say or do things that hurt others, sometimes unintentionally. But the most important part is admitting your wrongs and seeking forgiveness rooted in accountability.
