The musical Emilia Pérez leads this year’s Oscar nominations, but will old offensive posts by lead actress Karla Sofía Gascón derail the film's chances of success at the ceremony?
Chapter 1: What is the controversy surrounding the Oscars campaign for Emilia Pérez?
A musical about a Mexican drug boss seeking gender-affirming surgery, Amelia Perez is as ambitious and divisive as it sounds. But it's not the content on screen which is causing most controversy or dominating coverage. Long tipped to be a runaway success at ceremonies throughout awards season,
The movie's positive critical reception was strengthened by a wave of nominations, and that momentum seemed unstoppable until the re-emergence of a series of tweets by lead actress Carla Sofio Gascon derailed promoters' plans. Apologies and crisis PR followed, but Gascon was sidelined by the movie's representatives, all but ending her hopes of further personal plaudits.
And after throwing its weight behind co-star Zoe Saldana, the studio has managed to salvage some success. But ahead of the Oscars, debate is growing about how much this scandal has harmed its performance. So today we're asking, should we judge a movie by the actions of one of its stars? With me is Noor Nanji, who's one of our culture reporters here at the BBC. Good to see you, Noor.
Good to see you. It is one of the most talked about movies of this awards cycle. There's been so much buzz around it. But for anyone who hasn't seen it, what is Amelia Perez all about? That's a good question.
Amelia Perez.
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Chapter 2: What is the plot and background of Emilia Pérez?
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...
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.
And we are going to be talking about this scandal that is surrounding the lead, Carla Sofia Gascon. But there was already some controversy around the movie before this particular scandal.
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.
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.
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.
I know that lots of people have seen it. Some, as you've mentioned, have loved it. Some people haven't liked it. It's done really, really well when it comes to nominations for all of the awards. We're in that sort of moment, aren't we, of all the award ceremonies taking place. But would you say in terms of the critics, it's had quite a good response? Yeah.
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.
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.
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Chapter 3: Why has Karla Sofía Gascón's past tweets caused a scandal?
It's interesting as you approach the awards season, isn't it, that some movies start to gain a lot of momentum. And this has definitely been one of those, Noor. But it seems to have hit a bit of a snag. Because of these tweets that have emerged that Gascon sent.
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.
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.
And how did she respond?
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.
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
And I think it would be very unpleasant to say that I am racist.
I think it would be very distasteful to say that I am a racist or that I've made racist comments towards black people or African-Americans in the United States because I love them. I have millions of friends and I have worked with millions of people, just like I have with Asian people.
And with respect to Muslims, right now I have a relationship with a wonderful person, a woman who is Muslim, and she has taught me so much about respect for people. I've gone through a lot of hatred, a lot of stages in my life.
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Chapter 4: How is Netflix responding to the Emilia Pérez controversy?
The best actress category is always so highly anticipated. And Gascon stood a really good chance, it seemed, before all of this, because, you know, the first trans actress to win, it would have been quite a moment. But do you really think this has totally put aside her chances?
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.
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.
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?
Chapter 5: What impact does the scandal have on Emilia Pérez's Oscars chances?
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.
Thanks so much, Noor. I know you're off to LA for the Oscars. Have a fabulous time. Thank you. Very excited. So we've heard how the hype around Emilia Perez turned sour. Next, how does this moment compare to other Hollywood scandals of the past? And should a movie be defined by those who make it? Hi, Matthew. Hello. Now tell me, have you seen the movie?
I have seen Amelia Perez and I enjoyed it. I saw it with a film festival audience in Toronto and it is a wild ride. It's very unusual. I understand some of the controversy around it, but as an audacious piece of filmmaking, I enjoyed it.
Yeah, and you had a scoop of your own when it came to this story, Matthew, because it's Netflix that's distributing the film. And you managed to get quite a reaction from the content officer, the chief content officer of Netflix on tape that made headlines all over the world. What did she tell you?
She said it was a bummer.
You know what I think is really a bummer for 100 very incredibly talented people who made an amazing movie. And if you look at the nominations and all of these sort of awards love that it's received, I think it's such a bummer that it's distracted from that.
And that this was something that was unforeseen. They do not screen the prior social media history of the talent that they work with. And I think that was a mistake here.
It really has kind of taken the conversation in a different way, except for this incredible movie that Jacques Odiard, who's an incredible director, has made. And so to me, it really is a bummer for a lot of the people who have like Zoe and Celine, like incredible performances.
When you are in an Oscar race in 2025, there are people out there on social media who are trying to dig up unflattering facts about the candidates. These Oscar campaigns are exactly that. They are campaigns. They are political contests. And for six months, these movies are trying to jockey for position in the hearts and minds of Academy voters around the world.
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Chapter 6: How do Oscar campaigns manage scandals and social media?
That will come as a surprise to a lot of people. But Matthew, is that just standard practice that they don't do that kind of deep research? I mean, it's not even that deep, is it? It's simply going onto someone's social media account and looking at what they've been up to.
Shockingly, it is common practice. These media companies, these movie studios don't look at the social media of their talent. Now, if you ask Netflix about this, they will say, We work with thousands and thousands of artists who produce hundreds of TV shows and hundreds of movies every year. We can't go policing every little thing someone has said on the Internet over their entire life.
Now, I understand that. I think it's different when you have a movie that is in the Oscar race. And don't forget, Netflix purchased US rights to this movie at the Cannes Film Festival specifically to do an Oscar campaign for this movie. And I think the people who are in the Oscar race They are scrutinized to an extent that you have to check their social media.
Every one of these candidates does dozens and dozens of press interviews. They are out there campaigning at events and screenings and lunches all over town, all over the world for six months. Bad stuff is going to come up if it's out there.
Yeah, and she's not just a minor character in one of these films. She's a trans actress, which was going to bring a lot of attention for one thing. And she is the lead character. The whole film is built around her.
Yeah, that's the name. Amelia Perez. This is Amelia Perez. They knew this was going to be a controversial movie. In fact, that's why they bought it. It is an openly transgender storyline. The transgender actress is the main character. And Netflix liked that, bought it because they thought it would appeal...
to Academy voters, and it showed 13 nominations, the most nominations of any film this year. For that kind of movie not to get the level of scrutiny that I think it deserved from Netflix, I think is a mistake. Now, you could not anticipate this kind of a situation. It is the worst case scenario. I had a guest on The Town call Gus Gohn a terrorist. Because she really did blow up this campaign.
And it wasn't just that there were bad tweets. The tweets that were uncovered undermined the message of the film. One of acceptance, tolerance, of representation. And these tweets were just so regressive.
This isn't the first time, though, Matthew, that a film has suffered a serious PR hit during awards seasons, though, is it?
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