In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, actor Karla Sofia Gascón opened up about the transphobic hate and vile death threats she's received since her critically acclaimed performance in Netflix's Emilia Pérez.
The film, a maximalist musical darkly comedic crime film that also stars actors Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez, won the Jury Prize and the Best Actress award for its female ensemble at last year's Cannes Film Festival. It is about a cartel leader (Gascón) who enlists the help of an attorney (Saldaña) to help her fake her own death by undergoing a gender transition.
Gascón has received accolades left and right and is likely to receive a Best Actress nomination when Academy Award nominations are announced next week but has nonetheless faced criticism from LGBTQ+ advocacy groups who say she and the film have placed surgery at the forefront of the transgender experience and lean into tropes about transgender people being prone to violence.
And that's of course not even the half of it given the film was bound to face attacks from conservatives and transphobes who see the film as a threat to "family values," suggested Gascón's a "groomer" who will "erase women and girls," and have ramped up their violent and bigoted rhetoric in response.
In her interview, Gascón said social media users have said things like “I hope you die before you make another movie" and threatened she "would be found dismembered in a bag.”
And she had this to say about her critics:
“There is a part of society that lives off hate, that lives off selling hate, and there is another part that wants to live in hope, with the same rights, all of us in peace and respect. I always see it as a struggle between light and dark.”
“The brighter the light is, the darker the shadows are. And I am public enemy number one right now in the world for many people.”
“I’ve gotten used to it. In fact, I love it. It’s my gasoline to then tell the people of the light: ‘You have won.’ The more people hate me, the more insulting messages they send, the more I say, ‘Thank you,’ and the more I’m going to enjoy this moment.”
The bigotry doesn't bother her, she said, and instead:
“I’ve developed a taste for revenge.”
She also emphasized that in the grand scheme of things, these same critics, LGBTQ+ or otherwise, are little more than armchair faux experts:
“First off, I’m tired of TikTokers, Instagrammers, influencers and people who get up in the morning and are all soccer coaches, they are all journalists, they are all film critics. You must be super well-adjusted to criticize the work of 700 people from your couch, sitting there next to your PlayStation."
"Second, they claim to speak for everyone. Let me tell you: Being LGBT doesn’t make you less of an idiot.”
Many have condemned these attacks against Gascón and come to her defense.
Most recently, Gascón was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Independent Spirit Award for Emilia Pérez, cementing her status as a trailblazer whether or not she wins the coveted Academy Award.
The actor's higher profile has already led to new opportunities. She is set to shoot the film Las Malas, directed by the Academy Award-winning co-writer of Birdman, Armando Bó. Additionally, acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, whose film The Room Next Door has also received praise this year, has expressed a desire to work with her.
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