Noor
Appearances
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
So, yes, you're right, there's been a lot of buzz around it, but let's go back to what it's all about. So it's a Spanish-language musical. It's available on Netflix. It is set in Mexico, but it's actually mostly filmed in France. So there's a lot going on there. And it is, in a sense, a bit of a far-fetched concept. So it's about a Mexican drug lord who changes gender. So...
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
It's got a cast which includes Selena Gomez. It's got Carla Sofia Gascon and also Zoe Saldana. And it's definitely been very talked about. In some ways, it's quite divisive. Some people, you either love it or you hate it. You might really like musicals, but not think it works with something to do with a drug cartel. So there's a lot going on, I would say.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
Yeah, that's right. So the film has been criticised for its portrayal of Mexico and also of Mexican people. And that led to some scrutiny of the casting and also the production team involved. So some Mexican critics said that it had negligible involvement, essentially, of Mexican people among its leading cast and crew. And they found that unfortunate. That wasn't right.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
And also they said that his depiction of the country wasn't quite what they expected to be. And particularly when you're dealing with such a sensitive issue around drugs, it's something that a lot of people felt wasn't handled properly. And there was also some noise around the portrayal of gender affirming surgery. And that's despite the fact you had a trans actress in the lead role.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
And in fact, the noise got so significant that the lead, Carla Sofia Gascon, she actually accused the promoters of a rival film, I'm still here off a smear campaign against Amelia Perez. And that's something that they have definitely denied. They have denied that. Yes, that's right.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
It has. It had really gushing reviews from film critics, newspapers, magazines. And then, of course, it's been really well received by the award ceremonies as well. It won four Golden Globes, five European Film Awards. And then, of course, the Oscar voters have given it a real seal of approval. It is the frontrunner in a sense. It's got the most nominations heading into the Oscars.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
It's got 13 nominations in total overall. Carla Sofia Gascon is nominated for Best Actress for the lead role. That makes her the first openly trans person to be nominated in an acting category.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
That's right. So probably towards the end of January, this whole campaign started to take a different direction. And that's when a journalist uncovered some old tweets that were posted by Carla Sofia Gascon. And those tweets were some of them were repeating Islamophobic statements. Some of them were also criticising Black Lives Matter. They were referring to the death of George Floyd.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
And also some of them were criticising diversity issues. at the Academy itself. Now, those posts were mostly they were on X, formerly known as Twitter, and they were largely from 2020 and 2021. And as I say, they were unearthed by a journalist and then they were reported in Variety.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
Well, she subsequently deactivated her account on X and she has since then issued multiple apologies, including via Netflix itself. She said, as someone in a marginalized community, I know all this suffering too well, and I am deeply sorry for those that I've caused pain to. And then after that, she gave an emotional one-hour-long interview in Spanish to CNN.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
And in that, again, she apologized to anyone who may have been offended by these posts. But she said very categorically that she is not
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
She also said that some of them had been taken out of context. And she also denied a derogatory post that was apparently written about her co-star Selena Gomez. She said she never would have done that. But it is worth mentioning she's been notably absent from some of the awards ceremonies that have taken place since then.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
So clearly it has had something of a knock-on impact on how this campaign is going.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
Yeah, well, the film's director has distanced himself from the tweets. He's condemned them and said that he is no longer in contact with her. Netflix hadn't said much up to a point, but then recently its chief content officer did give a statement.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
She said that it was a shame for everyone who'd been involved in the film because, in a sense, this has sort of taken away from their successes and also said that, you know, there is a sense that Netflix has been, in a way, distancing themselves from it when it comes to the awards ceremony and really refocusing their campaign. on Zoe Saldana, who is in the lead supporting actress category as well.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
So, you know, it does go into the Oscars, as I say, with 13 nominations. And some film critics have said that this is going to potentially impact how it does that. I think it is fair to say that while back in January, you may have said this was the frontrunner, I think it is no longer the sense that this is the frontrunner for the Oscars.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
That does leave the race fully wide open going into this Sunday.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
Not that well known, I think that's fair to say. And I think a lot of people saw this as her breakout role. And then, of course, to be considered in the race for the Oscars, that was really something that I'm sure a lot of people were quite surprised about.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
I think there's no doubt that this row has definitely derailed the campaign for the film overall and for her. Because, you know, don't forget, this was all happening right when the voting was taking place. Voting for the Oscars closed on the 17th of February. So this was all happening right when this was going on.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
I mean, had this been several months ago, perhaps they may have sort of pushed it aside. But I just think when something's happening so right in the face of Oscar voting, it's very difficult for them to ignore it. And in a sense, it would look quite difficult for them to ignore it. And I think that presented Oscar voters with a very difficult position there.
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
While she may have been the frontrunner or one of the strongest candidates, I just don't think she's really in the running. It is a very open race. It's an exciting race this year compared to last year when it was Oppenheimer cleaning up. But at the same time, I think the conversation now is about is it going to be Demi Moore? Is it going to be Mikey Madison?
Global News Podcast
The Global Story: The scandal sinking an Oscars campaign
I'm not really hearing people saying it's going to be Carla Sofia Gascon. You know, had this maybe been a more minor character, then that might have been easier for them to perhaps overlook it. But with someone so central to the film, it's just very difficult for them to separate the two, I think, at this stage.
Global News Podcast
The rebels turned rulers providing law and order in Syria
Before, we knew who to be scared of certain people. Now, we don't even know who we should be scared of. We knew who to avoid or speak about. Even with HTS intervening to return my apartment, it's impossible for me to live here again. I do have hope, but not in the near future. I don't dare.