The first openly transgender Oscar nominee for Best Actress, Karla Sofía Gascón, spoke out after being criticized for past controversial social media posts.
The Academy Award contender, who starred in "Emilia Pérez," has been in hot water the past week after numerous old tweets emerged criticizing a variety of groups. These posts ranged from slamming multiple religions as the "f---ing beliefs of morons that violate human rights," to referring to George Floyd shortly after his death as a "drug addict swindler." In that latter post, Gascón appeared to criticize both sides of the debate over Floyd’s death, such as those who "still consider black people to be monkeys" and those who "consider policemen to be assassins."
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gascón responded to the massive public backlash by setting up an interview with CNN en Español, "without the involvement of anyone working on the film, which was distributed by Netflix."
The performer offered, "my most sincere apologies to all the people who may have felt offended by the ways I express myself in my past, in my present and in my future," but vowed not to step down from the nomination during the tearful interview.
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"I cannot renounce a nomination because what I have done is a job and what is being valued is my acting work," Gascón told anchor Juan Carlos Arciniegas, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "And I cannot renounce a nomination either because I have not committed any crime nor have I harmed anyone. I am not a racist, nor am I anything that all these people have taken it upon themselves to try to make others believe that I am."
The Oscar nominee instead argued, as translated by Google, "I believe that I have been judged, condemned and sacrificed and crucified and stoned without a trial and without the option to defend myself."
Gascón also attempted to clarify comments about Floyd, with the Hollywood Reporter summarizing the performer had "merely intended to point out the hypocrisy surrounding his elevation as a symbol of oppression."
"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," Gascón told Arciniegas, as translated by The Hollywood Reporter. "But for someone to think that… I have ever insulted a person because of their skin color, I do not allow that to anyone, to anyone."
Fox News Digital reached out to Gascón's management last week and did not receive an immediate reply.
