Zoe Saldana Reacts to ‘Emilia Perez’ Costar Karla Sofia Gascon Controversy

Zoe Saldaña has responded to the recent controversy surrounding her Emilia Pérez co-star Karla Sofía Gascón.

Gascón, 52, began receiving widespread backlash after past social media posts — some of which date back to 2016 — resurfaced online. In some of the posts, Gascón targets various religious groups, including the Muslim population in her native country of Spain. She also criticized George Floyd, who was killed by a police officer in 2020.

“I’m still processing everything that has transpired in the last couple of days, and I’m sad,” Saldaña, 46, said of Gascón’s comments during a Q&A in London on Friday, January 31, per The Hollywood Reporter. “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.”

Emilia Pérez is a musical drama about the leader of a Mexican cartel, played by Gascón, who hires a lawyer (Saldaña) to help fake her death and transition into a woman. For her role in the film, Gascón became the first transgender woman to be nominated for Best Actress at both the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards.

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“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,” Saldaña said on Friday. “And it just saddens me. It saddens me that we are having to face this setback right now.”

She went on to thank the audience for “still showing up” to see Emilia Pérez, emphasizing the film’s message and “the change that it can bring forward to communities that are marginalized.”

She added, “All that I can attest is that all of us that came together to tell this story, we came together for love and for respect and curiosity, and we will continue to spread that message. That’s all we can say right now.”

Gascón, for her part, has since apologized for the resurfaced posts and deleted her X account.

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“As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain,” she shared in a statement via Netflix, per the Associated Press. “All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.”

Emilia Pérez is already a film shrouded in controversy, having received criticisms from Spanish-speaking viewers for its awkward and stilted songs and dialogue as well as the film’s representation of Mexico. Additionally, the film was notably left out of the nominations for the GLAAD Media Awards in January, with the LGBTQ+ non-profit previously calling the film “a step backward for trans representation” in one article.

Many trans critics have cited more than one issue with the film, including its unrealistic portrayal of Emilia’s gender-affirming surgery.

“It’s not about offense or something being not allowed,” critic Drew Burnett Gregory wrote for Autostraddle. “It’s that it’s boring. I don’t understand why a movie that’s so bonkers in other ways chooses to undercut its strengths with this shallow understanding of its titular character.”