Although she skipped the red carpet, Karla Sofía Gascón, the embattled star nominated for best actress for her performance in “Emilia Pérez,” attended the Oscars on Sunday night at the tail end of a troubled awards cycle.
She first appeared during Conan O’Brien’s monologue, after the comedian made a joke about the number of f-bombs her team likely uttered this award season. He then spoke directly to Gascón as the camera locked onto her in the crowd, saying. “If you are going to tweet about the Oscars, remember, my name is Jimmy Kimmel.”
Gascón received swift backlash after several tweets from 2020 and 2021 went viral in the wake of her Oscar nomination. They included hateful messages about Muslims, diversity at the Oscars and the death of George Floyd.
She quickly apologized, saying in a statement that, “I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt. As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.”
“Emilia Pérez” received 13 Oscar nominations, including best picture and best director. Gascón’s nomination was notable as she was the first openly trans woman to get a best actress nod.
Gascón made her first post-scandal red carpet appearance at the César Awards in Paris on Friday night.
Gascón’s “Emilia Pérez” costar Zoe Saldaña quickly spoke out against the resurfaced tweets.
“I’m still processing everything that has transpired in the last couple of days, and I’m sad,” she said. “It makes me really sad because I don’t support [it], and I don’t have any tolerance for any negative rhetoric towards people of any group. I can only attest to the experience that I had with each and every individual that was a part, that is a part, of this film, and my experience and my interactions with them was about inclusivity and collaboration and racial, cultural, and gender equity. And it just saddens me. It saddens me that we are having to face this setback right now.”
From Variety US