Karla Sofia Gascon takes vow of silence for rest of awards season as Emilia Perez campaign implodes

Karla Sofia Gascón has vowed to remain silent for the rest of the awards season after skeletons from her past have emerged, all but tanking her chance to become the first transgender person to win an Academy Award.

In a post on Instagram on Friday, the Emilia Perez star, reacting to an interview by writer and director Jacques Audiard in Deadline, in which he accused her of 'self-sabotage,' Gascón vowed to keep her mouth shut and her fingers away from social media.

'I decided, for the film, for Jacques, for the cast, for the incredible crew who deserves it, for the beautiful adventure we all had together, to let the work talk for itself, hoping my silence will allow the film to be appreciated for what it is, a beautiful ode to love and difference,' the 52-year-old star wrote.

'I sincerely apologize to everyone who has been hurt along the way.'

The statement comes after Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos decided to sit away from the table where Gascón, Audiard and co-stars Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña were seated at the annual American Film Institute luncheon on Thursday, which celebrated 2024's top 10 movies and television shows, and instead chose to sit with Nobody Wants This creator Erin Foster and stars Kristen Bell, Adam Brody and Justine Lupe. 

Sarandos' step was the talk of the luncheon, according to Page Six, but it was pointed out that Netflix Chief Content Officer, Bela Bajaria, was at the Perez table, something an insider had been the plan from the start, while Sarandos would travel between the two. 

However, the visual continued to draw attention to some of the disastrous steps that many insiders believe has guaranteed Gascón will not win the Best Actress Oscar. She skipped the Critics Choice awards and some believe she may stay away from the upcoming Screen Actors Guild Awards and even the Oscars.

Her history setting journey has been on a downward slope since racist tweets from her past emerged. 

In 2020, in the days following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, the Spanish actress called him a 'drug addict swindler.'

A tweet commenting on the diversity at the 2021 Oscars ceremony, writing, '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.'

Another public comment, directed at the growing Muslim population in the town where she lives, Gascón wrote 'Every time I go to pick up my daughter from school there are more women with their hair covered and their skirts down to their heels. Next year instead of English we'll have to teach Arabic.'

She also referred to co-star Selena Gomez as a 'rich rat,' in October 2022, amid the singer's so-called 'feud' with ex Justin Bieber's wife Hailey Bieber. 

'It's a long and difficult and expensive and harrowing road to the Oscars,' the insider told the outlet.

'It can get very very nasty. During campaigning, people can try to discredit their rivals. They will find skeletons in the closet.'

Gascón has since deleted her Twitter/X account, but the damage had been done. 

Some of the blame for the PR disaster goes to Netflix, which did not check for any questionable comments from Gascón's past. 

'When you're a nobody that's when people should be cleaning up your s––t,' the head of a digital agency told the outlet. 'One of the first things you do is a full audit … from social media to old accounts.'

The actress' naiveté seemed to have played a big part in the scandal as well. 

She 'didn't even think these tweets were detrimental to her campaign and didn't think to pay to have them erased. She didn't think to hide them,' the Hollywood insider claimed

'How can she allow Netflix to spend millions and millions of dollars to promote her and not protect Netflix and herself? Netflix was creating a new life for her. She got paid $100,000 for that film, the stakes were so high — how could you not deal with this?'

The streamer seems to be focusing the campaign on the coveted Best Picture prize and promoting Saldaña for Best Supporting Actress. The musical received 13 Academy Award nominations in all. 

Saldaña has already won the Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards for her portrayal of an attorney who helps a drug kingpin fake his death in order to begin a new life as a woman. She is also nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award.