Emilia Perez actor Karla Sofia Gascon deletes X account after backlash to racist, Islamophobic tweets

Actor Karla Sofia Gascon, best known for bagging an Oscar nomination for her performance in the film Emilia Perez, has deactivated her X account (formerly Twitter). This comes days after she apologised for offensive posts that resurfaced Thursday. Gascon’s X account @karsiagascon was deactivated as of Friday morning, as per Variety. (Also read: Internet wants Karla Sofia Gascon ‘disqualified’ from Oscars after her racist tweets on Muslims, Covid, BTS resurface)

The controversy around Karla Sofia Gascon’s tweets

Gascon recently faced backlash after X users discovered tweets from 2020 and 2021 that had controversial views on Muslims, George Floyd, BTS, Adele, and diversity at the Oscars, among other things.

Later, in a statement to Variety, she apologised, saying, “I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt. As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.”

Among her several resurfaced tweets, Gascon critiqued the diversity of the 2021 Oscars ceremony. “More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films, I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala,” she wrote on X.

She also called George Floyd a “drug addict swindler” after he was killed by a police officer in 2020 and inspired protests around the U.S. She also made disparaging remarks about singer Adele’s weight loss, and the physical appearances of the members of K-pop band BTS.

Who is Karla Sofia Gascon?

Gascon made history as the first transgender performer to be nominated for the Oscar for best actress, helping make Emilia Perez the most nominated film going into next month’s show. Gascon was a regular in Mexican telenovelas before transitioning in 2018. In Emilia Perez, she plays both a menacing cartel kingpin and the woman who emerges after the kingpin fakes his own death, Emilia Perez.

(With agencies inputs)