Weekend: Banana Peels as…Botox?? 🍌

The drama surrounding Emilia Pérez was already brewing, but thanks to Karla Sofía Gascón, it has officially boiled over. On January 30, journalist Sarah Hagi unearthed a series of years-old xenophobic, racist, and offensive tweets in which Gascón — who recently made history as the first openly trans actress to be nominated for an Oscar — criticized Muslims, George Floyd, and more. The backlash was swift, and in response, Gascón deactivated her X account, issued several Instagram statements, and appeared on CNN en Español. During the hour-long interview, she apologized for her posts, alluded to a possible smear campaign, refused to rescind her Oscars nod, and declared that costars Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez supported her “200%.” Except that Saldaña, when asked about the comment, reportedly took a long pause and referred to a previous statement in which she said, “it makes me really sad.” Meanwhile, the film’s director was far less generous, saying, “I haven’t spoken to her, and I don’t want to.”

Of course, Emilia Pérez — which leads this year’s Academy Awards with a whopping 13 nominations — is hardly the first movie to have a scandal taint its Oscars campaign. Remember Green Book? OrZero Dark Thirty? Even some of this year’s other nominees have come under fire (see: The Brutalist’s polarizing use of AI, Fernanda Torres’s resurfaced comedy sketch). But few have been as messy — and potentially consequential — as Emilia Pérez. Because, let us remind you, the Gascón fiasco is just the latest in a string of controversies surrounding the genre-bending movie musical. (In an effort to keep this…brief, we recommend this very extensive timeline.) Now, to “salvage the film’s Oscar prospects,” Netflix is said to be writing Emilia Pérez out of the Emilia Pérez Academy Awards campaign. It’s reportedly no longer covering Gascón’s travel for awards shows and new marketing materials largely focus on Saldaña, who is the likely best supporting actress frontrunner. Who knows if she’ll take home a statue next month, but what we do know? Gascón will probably still be on a social media break.