'I am less racist than Gandhi': Karla Sofía Gascón opens up about her controversial tweets
ADVERTISEMENT
Thanks to her performance in the controversial but Cannes winning
Emilia Pérez
, Karla Sofía Gascón reached the pinnacle of her success. She won several awards, earned widespread recognition and became the
first out transgender performer
to be nominated for an Oscar.
Euronews Culture even selected Gascón as one of our
People of the Year
. We wrote: "Her fearless turn makes her 2024's most unforgettable silver screen star, and having had the pleasure of meeting her at this year's
European Film Awards
, Gascón is as kind as she is talented, exuding remarkable movie star charisma and communicating infectious joy."
However, it soon came crumbling down after a series of
resurfaced tweets
sent the actress to rock bottom.
Gascón is unfiltered, unapologetic, "for better and for worse", as she herself acknowledges. After weeks of silence following the backlash, she reappeared in Madrid to present her new book: "Lo que queda de mí" ("What's left of me").
The actress from Alcobendas sat down with Euronews Culture and other media outlets to explain how she felt after being cancelled, whether she would handle it differently today, her
absence from the Oscars red carpet
, and how this book - that mixes reality and fiction - serves as her redemption.
"It's a book that will move you, that talks about the struggle, about her identity, about crucial moments in her career", begins the description by the publisher of Almuzara, before handing the spotlight to the author herself.
"I found myself in a very complicated situation"
This is the first time she has published a book in Spain. It is based on a previous publication she made in Mexico and which has been updated with the latest events and reflections of her life.
"This book is part of a very difficult moment in my life", she acknowledges in reference to the situation she had to deal with after several tweets from her past came to light. "I found myself in a very complicated situation, everything I had built in my life fell down."
Karla Sofía Gascón in Emilia Pérez
Credit: Pathé - Netflix
Throughout the 500 pages, which she initially began writing in 2017, there are fictionalised episodes of her life. Gascón describes it as a "wonderful publication that tells many things about me, but the reader must discover which are true and which are not".
She has chosen this format to move away from a conventional autobiography, with her editor stressing that she has an "extremely good" story and way of expressing herself.
Gascón lays herself bare in this work, acknowledging that she recounts some of the most complicated moments of her life, some of them related to the high spheres of power in Mexico, where she built a successful acting career. This was a "marvellous" stage of her life, in which she ended up falling in love with a senator of the Republic and becoming involved in a "very complicated" relationship.
Related
Oscar favourite Karla Sofía Gascón faces backlash – Why are people turning against 'Emilia Pérez'?
Karla Sofía Gascón receives Spanish Actors and Actresses Union award: 'I am a woman like any other'
I am less racist than Gandhi and less of a Vox fan than Echenique.
Karla Sofía Gascón
Actress
Aware of the
controversy generated in recent weeks
, she made a declaration of intent at a lunch we attended.
"I'm going to give you the headline: I'm less racist than Gandhi and less Vox than Echenique".
The remark spread like wildfire, making her a trending topic on social media within 24 hours.
With this statement, she pushed back against the accusations levelled against her since past tweets came to light - statements which many have considered racist or ultra-conservative.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Hate can only be stopped with love and not with more hate," she says, assuring that she is now feeling much better after what happened and reiterating that she has been the victim of a coordinated attack.
"Nobody has to forgive me for anything"
Gascón is aware that her 2015 tweets have offended many, but she argues that they have been taken out of context, that some were manipulated, and that her views have evolved over time.
She also claims she had no recollection of writing the tweets and that she had almost deleted her account days before they resurfaced because she did not agree with Elon Musk's views.
"I didn't leave X because after being nominated for the Golden Globes as they gave me new rights to the account without paying", she says with a laugh.
ADVERTISEMENT
Despite the controversy, she insists that "no one has to forgive me anything, if anyone has felt offended by my statements, let them explain it to me," she adds. "I have seen so many people talk about me without knowing me, calling me a Vox lady, extreme right-wing or racist".
Actor Karla Sofía Gascón looks on from her seat before the Oscars on Sunday, 2 March 2025.
Credit: AP Photo
The actress also addressed how the controversy affected her career and public perception. Even when she was nominated for an Oscar, she wasn't allowed on the red carpet.
"I didn't even notice, they made me go somewhere else and then I realised I had jumped the carpet," she explains. "They wanted to turn me into a robot, into someone immaculate who represents I don't know who. I don't represent anyone but myself. If someone identifies with me, great, but I'm not perfect and I don't want to be. Art comes from human imperfection."
Regarding the
accusations of racism
, Gascón emphasised her personal history.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I find it totally unfair to be labelled a racist, a word I have fought against all my life. I have spent my life supporting the causes of Black people, of other ethnic groups, and to be labelled as such is something that does not fit in my head".
Gascón also suggested that there could be a deliberate intention behind the controversy.
"Obviously, there is an intention to take four words out of context. They have chosen what they wanted to create - an image of me that I am not."
Resilience and future
Despite the damage suffered, the actress showed resilience and a focus on the future.
ADVERTISEMENT
"My fuel is the hate I receive," she says. "I turn it into something useful to overcome myself. I don't regret the silence I kept after the cancellation, it was a battle against myself that I won. This book has helped me to get my life back on track, to move forward."
With "What's left of me", Gascón not only seeks to redeem herself, but also invites the reader to reflect on the concepts of truth, identity and personal struggle.
"Life is like that... When you are at the top, something brings you down," she states. "But I still believe in humanity, and I have a responsibility to my daughter and to myself not to give up."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
2 hours ago
- LeMonde
Harvey Weinstein found guilty of sexual assault in New York
Disgraced Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of one sexual assault Wednesday, June 11, and not guilty of another, with jurors still considering a rape charge at his retrial at which three women recounted in graphic detail how he victimized them. Weinstein was retried for offenses against two women, Jessica Mann whom he is alleged to have raped, and Miriam Haley whom he was found to have sexually assaulted, alongside new charges of assaulting ex-model Kaja Sokola. He was found not guilty of those new charges at the tense proceeding in a Manhattan court on Wednesday. Delivering the verdict of the seven women and five men of the jury on the Haley count, the foreman said: "Guilty." He shook his head when he was asked for a verdict on the rape of Mann, and said "not guilty" on the Sokola count. Weinstein looked on impassively close by, seated in a wheelchair and wearing a dark suit as he has done throughout the six weeks of hearings. But later the 73-year-old appeared to mutter "Not true" as he was wheeled out of court. The judge ordered the legal teams for both sides not to speak to the media as the jury continued to deliberate on the outstanding charge. Vindication The Oscar-winner's conviction is a vindication for Haley, whose complaint in part led to the initial guilty verdict in 2020, and helped fire the "MeToo" movement that saw an outpouring of allegations from prominent women who were abused by men. Weinstein underwent a spectacular fall from his position astride the world of Hollywood and show business in 2017 when the first allegations against him exploded into public view. The movement upended the film industry, exposing the systemic exploitation of young women seeking to work in entertainment, and provoking a reckoning on how to end the toxic culture. More than 80 women accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct in the wake of the global backlash against men abusing positions of power. Weinstein's original 2020 conviction, and the resulting 23-year prison term, was thrown out last year after an appeals court found irregularities in the way witnesses were presented.
France 24
4 hours ago
- France 24
Harvey Weinstein found guilty of sexual assault
Weinstein was retried for offenses against two women, Jessica Mann whom he is alleged to have raped, and Miriam Haley whom he was found to have sexually assaulted, alongside new charges of assaulting ex-model Kaja Sokola. He was found not guilty of those new charges at the tense proceeding in a Manhattan court on Wednesday. Delivering the verdict of the seven women and five men of the jury on the Haley count, the foreman said: "Guilty." He shook his head when he was asked for a verdict on the rape of Mann, and said "not guilty" on the Sokola count. Weinstein looked on impassively close by, seated in a wheelchair and wearing a dark suit as he has done throughout the six weeks of hearings. But later the 73-year-old appeared to mutter "Not true" as he was wheeled out of court. The judge ordered the legal teams for both sides not to speak to the media as the jury continued to deliberate on the outstanding charge. The Oscar-winner's conviction is a vindication for Haley, whose complaint in part led to the initial guilty verdict in 2020, and helped fire the "MeToo" movement that saw an outpouring of allegations from prominent women who were abused by men. Weinstein underwent a spectacular fall from his position astride the world of Hollywood and show business in 2017 when the first allegations against him exploded into public view. The movement upended the film industry, exposing the systemic exploitation of young women seeking to work in entertainment, and provoking a reckoning on how to end the toxic culture. More than 80 women accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct in the wake of the global backlash against men abusing positions of power. Weinstein's original 2020 conviction, and the resulting 23-year prison term, was thrown out last year after an appeals court found irregularities in the way witnesses were presented.
France 24
4 hours ago
- France 24
Jury convicts Harvey Weinstein of top sex crime charge in retrial of landmark #MeToo case
A Manhattan jury found Harvey Weinstein guilty on a sex crimes charge on Wednesday in a retrial after a state appeals court last year overturned the former movie mogul's 2020 conviction. Weinstein, once one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood, was accused by prosecutors in the case of raping an aspiring actress and assaulting two other women. Weinstein, 73, pleaded not guilty and has denied assaulting anyone or having non-consensual sex. The jury found Weinstein guilty on one of the three counts he faced, which stemmed from his alleged assault of former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006. The jury found Weinstein not guilty of a charge stemming from his alleged assault of Kaja Sokola in 2002 when she was a 16-year-old aspiring actress. The jury has not yet reached a verdict on the third count, which charges him with raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013. They will resume deliberations on that count on Thursday. In closing arguments on June 3, the prosecution told the 12 jurors that the evidence showed how Weinstein used his power and influence to trap and abuse women. The defense countered that the accusers lied on the witness stand out of spite after their consensual sexual encounters with the Oscar-winning producer failed to result in Hollywood stardom. Jurors reached their partial verdict on the fifth day of sometimes fractious deliberations. The retrial began on April 23. Weinstein has had a litany of health problems and attended the retrial in a wheelchair. A jury had in February 2020 found Weinstein guilty of raping Mann and sexually assaulting Haley. Sokola's allegation was not part of that case. The conviction was a milestone for the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct by powerful men. But the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, threw out that conviction in April 2024. It said the trial judge erred by letting women testify that Weinstein had assaulted them, though their accusations were not the basis of the criminal charges. Though the 2020 conviction was thrown out, Weinstein has remained behind bars because of his 2022 rape conviction in California, which resulted in a 16-year prison sentence. He is appealing that verdict. More than 100 women, including famous actresses, have accused Weinstein of misconduct. The retrial was handled by prosecutors with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. They portrayed Weinstein as a serial predator who promised career advancement in Hollywood to women, only to then coax them into private settings where he attacked them. The defense rejected that characterization, saying Weinstein engaged in "mutually beneficial" relationships with his accusers, who ended up with auditions and other show business opportunities. Weinstein co-founded the Miramax studio, whose hit movies included "Shakespeare in Love" and "Pulp Fiction." His own eponymous film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018, five months after sexual misconduct accusations against him became widely publicized. Weinstein has experienced several health episodes while being held at New York City's Rikers Island jail, and in September was rushed to a hospital for emergency heart surgery.
