‘Emilia Pérez’ controversy escalates: Is it all over for the Oscars?

After its Cannes premiere, Jacques Audiard’s audacious cartel musical Emilia Pérez was picked up by Netflix and began its seemingly unstoppable awards sweep.

The Spanish-language film focusing on a transgender crime boss in modern Mexico won two Palmes on the Croisette, triumphed in major categories at the European Film Awards and France’s Lumière Awards, and went home with four Golden Globes – the most of any film this year.

Last month, it became the most nominated non-English language film of all time at the Oscars, scoring a record 13 nods including for Karla Sofía Gascón as Best Actress. She became the first out transgender performer to be nominated, and the stage was set for a historic win to cap off 2025’s awards season.

Then the success story came crashing down.

As we reported, old social media posts were unearthed in which Gascón called Islam “a hotbed for infection for humanity that urgently need to be cured”, described George Floyd as a “drug addict swindler”, and criticised increased diversity at the Oscars.

The backlash was swift and led Gascón to apologize in multiple statements.

She stated she is “not a racist” in an interview with CNN en Español, in which she appeared to suggest there was a targeted campaign against her. She also added that she would not withdraw her Best Actress nomination.

However, the Netflix heads have distanced themselves from her and even began to attempt to salvage the film’s awards prospects by erasing Gascón from promotional material.  

Gascón will reportedly not be in attendance for today’s Critics Choice Awards and despite suggestions that she was going to head to this weekend’s Goya Awards, Spanish news agency EFE has stated that she will not be present.  

Spanish politicians have even denounced her remarks, with Culture minister Ernest Urtasun saying: “They don’t reflect Spanish society, and it pains me to say it, because her (Oscar) candidacy was very important for the country. And those tweets have tarnished that.” 

It remains to be seen whether Gascón will attend the Oscars on 2 March in LA.  

Distancing to rescue?

Jacques Audiard, who is also nominated for an Oscar in the Best Director category, has branded Karla Sofía Gascón’s tweets as “hateful” and “inexcusable” – essentially disavowing her.

“It’s very hard for me to think back to the work I did with Karla Sofía,” he said in an interview with Deadline. “The trust we shared, the exceptional atmosphere that we had on the set that was indeed based on trust. And when you have that kind of relationship and suddenly you read something that that person has said, things that are absolutely hateful and worthy of being hated, of course that relationship is affected. It’s as if you fall into a hole. Because what Karla Sofía said is inexcusable.”

When asked if he has spoken to her since, he responded: “I haven’t spoken to her, and I don’t want to. She is in a self-destructive approach that I can’t interfere in, and I really don’t understand why she’s continuing.”

He added that Gascón is “talking about herself as a victim, which is surprising. It’s as if she thought that words don’t hurt.” Audiard also said that while he will still participate in promotional and Oscar campaigning events, “there is a sadness” now attached to proceedings.

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As for Gascón’s Oscar-nominated co-star Zoe Saldaña, she has gone on the record to express her sadness at the current situation.

Speaking to Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast on the controversy, she said: “I’m sad. Time and time again, that’s the word because that is the sentiment that has been living in my chest since everything happened. I’m also disappointed. I can’t speak for other people’s actions. All I can attest to is my experience, and never in a million years did I ever believe that we would be here”.

When asked about whether she has spoken to her co-star about the tweets, she said: “I feel like I’ve spoken enough about it… It’s not just something we have to figure out immediately.”

She did, however, state her condemnation of Gascón’s remarks. “I do not support any negative rhetoric of racism and bigotry towards any group of people” she stated. “That is what I want to stand for”.

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Saldaña stated that she remains proud of the film and the work accomplished by the performers. “I was not raised to have any negative judgment towards people of any group in any community” she explained. “While being that person, I can still stand by a body of work that I can be proud of”.

Can ‘Emilia Pérez’ still emerge victorious from the Oscars?

There’s no doubt that the controversy has derailed the film’s awards campaign and thrown into question its chances at Oscar glory.

The wheels have come off but can the car still cross the finish line? 

The film was already divisive. It has come under fire from Mexican audiences and faced backlash from the LGBTQ community over its portrayal of the transgender main character. Gascón’s past comments have thrown the film’s other nominees into jeopardy.  

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Saldaña remains the favourite to win Best Supporting Actress for her performance, but the controversy will have altered the intentions of Oscar voters, who will undoubtedly be looking for safer alternatives in order to avoid any embarrassment. This means that an already unpredictable race is now an open one, and that Netflix can kiss its Best Picture chances goodbye.  

You can bet that the streamer is not best pleased, as Emilia Pérez represented its best shot in the most prized category – which has remained elusive for the streaming juggernaut.

Despite a smaller scandal regarding the use of AI, Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist now seems to be a strong contender for Best Film. It would be deserved, but the 215-minute-long epic might be too much for some Oscar voters.

Another worthy alternative could be last year’s Palme d’Or winner Anora – a film which has largely lost out to Emilia Pérez during awards season. Could this be Sean Baker’s time to shine once more?

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Then there’s the Timothée Chalamet-led Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, which represents the aforementioned safe vote. While decent and featuring an excellent performance from Chalamet, this unexceptional movie now has a proper chance at winning Best Film because decent is better than controversial in the eyes of many voters.

However, a win for this film would be akin to Coda winning in 2022: a letdown.

Not tarnishing a stellar film

While a degree of unknowability is exciting – especially compared to last year’s predictable race in which Oppenheimer was unstoppable – what’s less thrilling is that Emilia Pérez remains a terrific film that deserves more than to sink with the controversy.

We stand by our review of Emilia Pérez, in which we said: “Audiard manages to confidently balance the knowingly kitschy aspects of the musical genre (one number set in a clinic has “Rhinoplasty! Mammoplasty! Vaginoplasty!” as a chorus) with some touching character-driven moments, without forgetting to thrill you and address socially-charged hot-button topics along the way.”   

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We also noted how Gascón dominated throughout, and how there was “power, pathos and earnestness seeping through every moment of Gascón’s performance, and the double-act she and Zoe Saldaña go on to form is magnetic to watch.”  

Emilia Pérez was one of our Best Movies of 2024 and Karla Sofía Gascón led the way in Euronews Culture’s People of the Year 2024 – in which we stated that her “fearless turn makes her 2024’s most unforgettable silver screen star”. 

Without at any point condoning or excusing Gascón’s hateful tweets, it remains a shame that the film and its creative team risks being dismissed, and that Gascón’s career in Hollywood now seems on life support. To say the least about the history-in-the-making moment of the first out transgender performer winning an acting Oscar.

Nothing is certain regarding the Academy outcome next month, but two things are crystal clear: Emilia Pérez doesn’t deserve to sink with its leading actress’ awards chances, and we’ll all feel a hell of a lot better when 2025’s awards season is done and dusted.

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Let’s just hope that Oscar voters don’t derail proceedings further by picking the most middle-of-the-road film as their champion.

The Oscars will take place on 2 March (early morning on 3 March in Europe).