'I am less racist than Gandhi': Karla Sofía Gascón opens up about her controversial tweets
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
Euronews
21 hours ago
- Euronews
By order of 007: Peaky Blinders' creator to write next James Bond film
Well, this is coming together rather brilliantly, isn't it? Following the announcement that Arrival and Dune director Denis Villeneuve will direct the next James Bond film for Amazon MGM Studios, it has now been announced that British screenwriter Steven Knight will be on scripting duties. Knight is best known for creating the hit TV show Peaky Blinders, as well as SAS Rogue Heroes, A Thousand Blows, The Veil and All the Light We Cannot See. He also wrote the screenplays for the Oscar-nominated films Eastern Promises and Spencer, as well as three films that he also directed: Hummingbird, Locke and Serenity. Knight's upcoming projects include the hotly anticipated Peaky Blinders feature film for Netflix, The Immortal Man. Une publication partagée par Amazon MGM Studios (@amazonmgmstudios) There is no official release date or title for the 26th 007 movie – and still no official news regarding the casting of James Bond. Following 2021's No Time To Die, Daniel Craig's swansong as the martini-swigging secret agent, there have been several rumours regarding who will don the tuxedo next. From Aaron Taylor-Johnson to three reported studio favourites, all bets are (still) off. In March, it was announced that the long-serving producers of the films, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, had stepped away from the creative process and handed over full control to Amazon. This ended more than 60 years of the Broccoli family's control over the Bond estate. Since then, the development of a new Bond adventure has been a high priority. Fans have expressed fears over Amazon's control of the beloved film franchise, and rightly so. However, considering the current creative roster, it's hard to deny that things aren't looking promising for James Bond's next outing on the big screen.
Euronews
a day ago
- Euronews
Beloved British children's author Allan Ahlberg dies aged 87
Celebrated British children's author Allan Ahlberg has died aged 87, his publisher Penguin Random House has confirmed. Ahlberg wrote 150 books, including beloved titles like 'The Jolly Postman or Other People's Letters', 'Funny Bones', 'Burglar Bill', 'Peepo!' and 'Each Peach Pear Plum'. He worked with his first wife, Janet, an award-winning illustrator, for these classics – which sold millions of copies around the world. The prize-winning 'The Jolly Postman', published in 1991, has sold over six million copies. In Euronews Culture's The Books That Made Us, we described "The Jolly Postman"'s 'wild and varied characters' and the happiness that decries from reading such a joyful book. After Janet's death in 1994, he worked with other illustrators like Raymond Briggs and then went on to collaborate with his daughter Jessica for books like 'Half a Pig'. Ahlberg also made headlines in 2014 when he refused a lifetime achievement award because it was sponsored by Amazon, which was facing criticism over its tax arrangements. Francesca Dow, head of children's literature at Penguin Random House, said: "Allan was one of the most extraordinary authors I have had the privilege and pleasure to work with. His brilliant books – so many of them created with his late wife, Janet, the highly talented illustrator – have been described as 'mini masterpieces'.' She added: "Allan's are some of the very best – true classics, which will be loved by children and families for years to come. Dear Allan, we will all miss you enormously." Fellow children's author Michael Rosen said in a tribute on X: "You were a pioneer of great children's literature, both in picture books and poetry. You were clever, funny and wise. My children loved your books. So did and so DO I." Born in Croydon in 1938, Ahlberg was adopted into a working-class family living in the West Midlands town of Oldbury. He worked as a postman and gravedigger before training to become a teacher at Sunderland Teacher Training College, where he met Janet. Ahlberg is survived by his wife Vanessa, daughter Jessica and stepdaughters Saskia and Johanna.
France 24
a day ago
- France 24
'Wednesday' returns with Jenna Ortega, and a Lady Gaga cameo
The first instalment of the quirky series in 2022 became Netflix's second most watched show after "Squid Game", clocking up 252 million views. Ortega's deadpan and witty portrayal of Wednesday as she solves a series of murders while enrolled in the creepy Nevermore Academy hooked millions of fans and became a viral sensation. The first four episodes of the Tim Burton-directed second series will release -- naturally enough -- on Wednesday, with the rest of them due on September 3. The 22-year-old actor and the producers have promised a more macabre turn for the horror-inflected drama. There are bigger roles for Wednesday's family, notably her mother Morticia Addams (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and father Gomez Addams (Luis Guzman). American arthouse favourite Steve Buscemi also appears as the new head of Nevermore, Principal Dort. "There's a couple of weapons that I had to learn to use that I hadn't used on people before, so that was a little bit of a learning curve," Ortega told reporters recently about the biggest challenge of the second series. They include a Swiss army knife and an axe. Her character, as in her own life, also has to contend with her newfound fame after her exploits in season one. One of her most high-profile fans, Lady Gaga, has a cameo in the new series. Since 2022, Ortega has gone on to play roles in "Scream VI" and in Burton's "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice", as well as landing brand ambassador roles for Dior and other labels. Surprises Burton, director of cult hits from "Batman" to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", agreed to direct the second series -- he made half of series one -- after feeling "strangely like it was written for me". "Even though I'm not a teenage girl, I feel like one sometimes, and it's just something that really spoke to me," he said during an online press event ahead of the launch. "I loved (Wednesday's) take on everything from family to school to psychiatry, to everything. That's why I wanted to do it, because of the strength of that particular character," he said. The show's creators, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, said viewers should be prepared for surprises. "Wednesday goes into this season thinking she knows Nevermore," they said in an interview published on fan platform Tudum. "But as soon as she returns, nothing happens the way she's expecting.
