Karla Sofia Gascon, best known for her role in Emilia Perez, was in the midst of an Oscar campaign for Best Actress when her “racist” tweets resurfaced online. Following the backlash, she withdrew from the spotlight for a while and ultimately lost the award to Mikey Madison for Anora.
Recently, Karla Sofia Gascon appeared in Madrid to promote her biographical book Lo que queda de mi (What's Left of Me). In a conversation with El Mundo, the actress addressed the racism controversy.
When asked whether she felt she had been forgiven for her racist tweets, Karla responded, "No one has to forgive me for anything. If anyone feels offended by things I may have done in my life, let them come and tell me.”
She added, “They've said that I'm far-right or racist or whatever, but if there's one thing I've done all my life, it's that I've been against all this. When I was young, I used to fight with skinheads … When someone comes up to me and I ask them: ‘But what is it about me that offends you?', no one can come up with anything or tell me anything.”
Karla Sofia Gascon declared herself to be “less racist than Gandhi” but did not elaborate on the statement.
She suggested that she may have been the target of a deliberate smear campaign aimed at derailing her career. “It's clear that there was a campaign against me and that they kept going until they got what they were after,” she said.
Addressing her Islamophobic tweets targeting the Muslim population, Karla Sofía Gascón stated that while she has “enormous respect for Muslim people,” she has no tolerance for “fanaticism, terrorism, and all the awful things done in the name of God or religion.”
When asked whether she had any regrets or would make the same choices again, Karla Sofia Gascon responded, “Life always puts us into difficult places so that we can learn. And you always learn from mistakes.”
For the unversed, Karla Sofia Gascon's controversial tweets, largely shared during a volatile period in both global politics and social movements, resurfaced on the internet on January 30. The actress had made several posts criticising a variety of subjects, including Islam, the Black Lives Matter movement and George Floyd.
Besides Emilia Perez, Karla Sofia Gascon has been part of projects like La Caja 507, Di Que Sí, El Señor de los Cielos, Corazón Salvaje and Rebelde.
