Emilia Pérez’s Brutal Treatment at Critics Choice Awards Despite Winning Proves Karla Sofía Gascón Tweets Did Real Damage
- Karla Sofía Gascón's controversial tweets re-surfaced the internet.
- Emilia Pérez won the Best Song at the Critics Choice Awards 2025.
- Emilia Pérez is streaming on Netflix.
Directed by Jacques Audiard, the 2024 Spanish-language French musical crime drama Emilia Pérez stars Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña, Adriana Paz, and more. The story follows a Mexican cartel leader who enlists a lawyer to help her disappear so that she can transition into a woman.
The movie premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it received rave reviews from critics and the audience. The success of Emilia Pérez was seen when it went on to earn 13 nominations at the 97th Academy Awards and 10 nominations at the Critics Choice Awards. A recent controversy involving the lead actress tainted the movie’s win at the Critics Choice Awards.
Karla Sofía Gascón’s controversy stains Emilia Pérez’s win at the Critics Choice Awards 2025
The 30th Critics’ Choice Awards were held at the Barker Hangar at the Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, California, on 7th Feb 2025. Chelsea Handler returned as the host for the third consecutive year. Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez earned ten nominations along with Dune: Part Two.
The film’s song El Mal won the best song at the awards show, a prize that went to Karla Sofía Gascón [whose name was not even brought up], Zoe Saldaña, and singer-songwriter Camille Dalma. The lead actress was not in attendance at the ceremony, especially with the recent controversies surrounding her past comments. Dalmais accepted the award by stating (via Celebrity Insider),
Thank you to Emilia Pérez’s team and Zoe for being such a great artist.
According to reports, voting for the Critics Choice Awards concluded before Karla Sofía Gascón’s controversial comments aimed at Muslim and Black people and diversity at the Academy Awards started to resurface on the Internet. One of the tweets that date back to 2020 read (via @KindaHagi),
Sorry, is it just my impression, or are there more and more Muslims in Spain? 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. Maybe next year instead of English we’ll have to teach Arabic.
After the tweets resurfaced, Karla Sofía Gascón took to her social media to apologize for her past tweets. She said (via THR),
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.
The film’s director, Jacques Audiard, shared with Deadline, in which he condemned Gascón’s controversial comments. He said he was no longer in contact with her, adding that she was in a self-destructive approach. He added that he does not know why the actress is harming people who were very close to her and noted that she’s hurting the crew and all the people who worked so incredibly hard on the film.
Audiard mentioned that he’s thinking about Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez, adding that he does not understand why the actress is continuing to harm the ones involved in the movie. He shared that he is not going to get in touch with her because she needs space to reflect and take accountability for her actions.
Fans react to half-hearted Emilia Pérez’s win at the Critics Choice Awards 2025
After the film’s song El Mal won Best Song at the awards show, fans took to their social media to react to their win by pointing out that when the winner was announced, no one clapped.
The users mentioned that it felt like the actors present in the room might have read the tweets.
One of the users mentioned on their X account,
Now the mood has really shifted within the industry; even before the Karla Sofía Gascón controversy, the critics should’ve picked up on how tone-deaf this movie is both culturally and otherwise, but they live in a bubble and decided a long time ago to give Emilia Pérez all the awards. They own this now.
At the ceremony, Zoe Saldaña won the Best Supporting Actress at the Critics Choice Awards 2025. While accepting the award, she did not mention Karla Sofía Gascón in her speech and said,
Because it was going to be tacky if I assumed I was going to win. Playing Rita was the challenge of a lifetime. To think that Emilia Pérez has been the little movie that could and has resonated with so many people has been an experience worth having. To the entire cast and crew, the talented artists designers, and musicians, I share this with you.
The director also accepted the award without mentioning Karla Sofía Gascón. He mentioned a massive thank you for the love and appreciation for the movie. Karla Sofía Gascón has deactivated her X account.
Emilia Pérez is streaming on Netflix.
