Emilia Perez controversy branded 'a bummer' by Netflix
A representative for Netflix has weighed in on the controversy swirling around 'Emilia Perez' star Karla Sofia Gascon in the run-up to the Oscars - calling the furore over her past tweets " a bummer".
The controversy swirling around 'Emilia Perez' star Karla Sofia Gascon has been branded "a bummer" by a representative for Netflix.
The streaming giant's film landed a massive 13 Academy Award nominations - including a Best Actress nod for Gascon making her the first trans person to be nominated for an Oscar - but the achievements have been overshadowed by scandal as a series of inflammatory tweets previously posted by Gascon came to light and now Netflix's Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria has weighed in on the drama.
During an appearance on 'The Town' podcast, Bajaria said: "I think it’s really a bummer for the 100 incredibly talented people who made an amazing movie.
"And if you look at the nominations, and all of this awards love that it’s received, I think it’s such a bummer that it distracted from that.
"It really has kind of taken the conversation in a different way [from] this incredible movie that Jacques Audiard - who is an incredible director - has made.
"It really is a bummer for a lot of the people, like [co-stars] Zoe [Saldana] and Selena [Gomez].
"And in our awards team did an incredible campaign for that movie."
When asked if Netflix will start vetting stars' social media in future, Bajaria replied: "It’s not really common practice for people to vet social tweets that way …
"A lot of people are reevaluating that … I do think it is raising questions for a lot of people about reevaluating that process ...
"I think you also have to [ask]: 'Are we going to actually look at the personal social media of tens of thousand of people, every single day around the world, [given the] amount of original film and TV and co-prods that we make and license?' It raises a lot of questions about what that should look like."
However, Bajaria is adamant the movie is still worth watching despite the scandal, adding: "If you ask me today, everything I know, we would still buy the movie today.
"That movie is incredible and it’s creative and it’s bold - that’s what you want, and it resonated with a lot of people this year."
Gascon previously offered a "sincere" apology to the people she has hurt with the tweets - which were posted between 2016 and 2020 - and confirmed she would be keeping a low profile during the movie's Oscars campaign.
In a post on Instagram, she wrote: "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.
"I sincerely apologise to everyone who has been hurt along the way.(sic)"
Karla spoke out after 'Emilia Perez' director Jacques Audiard branded her previous comments - which included posts about the murder of George Floyd, the Muslim community, and diversity at the Oscars - "inexcusable" and said he didn't want to speak to her.
He told Deadline: "I haven’t spoken to her, and I don’t want to. She is in a self-destructive approach that I can’t interfere in, and I really don’t understand why she’s continuing.
"Why is she harming herself? Why? I don’t understand it, and what I don’t understand about this too is why she’s harming people who were very close to her.
"I’m thinking in this thing of how hurting others, of how she’s hurting the crew and all these people who worked so incredibly hard on this film. I’m thinking of myself, I’m thinking of Zoe [Saldaña] and Selena [Gomez]. I just don’t understand why she’s continuing to harm us.
"I’m not getting in touch with her because right now she needs space to reflect and take accountability for her actions... She’s really playing the victim.
"She’s talking about herself as a victim, which is surprising. It’s as if she thought that words don’t hurt."
