Karla Sofía Gascón is under fire after posts from her X account (formerly known as Twitter), resurfaced Thursday. The posts were mostly from 2020 and 2021, but date back as far as 2016 and as recently as 2023. They expressed Gascón's opinions on topics such Islam and Muslims, George Floyd, and diversity at the Oscars.
Independent journalist Sarah Hagi discovered several tweets expressing Gascón's views on the religion of Islam. In a post dated September 6, 2020, that was translated through Google, Gascón wrote, "Until we ban religions that go against European values and violate human rights, such as Islam, under the protection of freedom of worship, we will not end part of the huge problem we face."
On November 20, 2022, a post read, "Imagine what these Arabs would say if every time they came to Europe we demanded permission from their wives, or forced them to wear socks with flip-flops and a mask covering their faces. Or better yet, sentence them to death for greeting other men with kisses on the mouth."
In 2020, less than a month after the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, Gascón released a thread of posts summarizing her thoughts on the Black Lives Matter rallies that had been going on.
"Let me get this straight, a guy tries to pass off a counterfeit bill after consuming methamphetamine, an idiotic policeman arrives and goes too far in arresting him, killing him, ruining the lives of his family and his colleagues, and turning the guy with the bill into a martyr hero," she wrote. "I truly believe that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict and a hustler, but his death has served to highlight once again that there are those who still consider Black people to be monkeys without rights and those who consider the police to be murderers. All wrong."
This year, Gascón became the first openly trans actor to be nominated for an Academy Award. During the ceremony in 2021, which was impacted by COVID-19 and saw Nomadland win Best Picture, Gascón wrote, "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."
Following the resurfacing, the posts were deleted. Gascón has released a statement in response. "I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt," she said. "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."
As of the time of writing, Gascón's X account has been deactivated. ~Ryan Donahue
I hope this doesn't affect his chance of winning the Best Actress Oscar. I'm pretty sure he was the frontrunner before this happened.