All eyes will be on the lead actress of Emilia Pérez at tonight’s Academy Awards, but Saturday Night Live comedian Colin Jost is confused about the scandal surrounding the film.
The musical crime saga, about a Mexican cartel boss who undergoes gender affirming surgery, leads the Oscar nominations with 13 nods.
But Karla Sofía Gascón, the movie’s Oscar-nominated star has faced backlash since a journalist resurfaced some of Gascón’s old tweets criticizing Islam, George Floyd, and the Oscars themselves.
On the March 1 installment of SNL, “Weekend Update” co-anchor Colin Jost tried to explain the scandal to viewers — although he got a little confused in the process.
“The Oscar campaign for best picture nominee, Emilia Pérez, was badly damaged after problematic old tweets about George Floyd surfaced from transgender actress Karla Sofía Gascón, and I think we can all agree — What?” Jost said to laughter.
Related: ‘Emilia Pérez’ Star Karla Sofía Gascón Insists She’s ‘Not Racist’ Amid Controversy Over Old Tweets
Gascón, who is Spanish and transgender, has been absent from the pre-Oscars promo circuit since the controversy erupted. Then last week, Variety reported she “plans to be at the Oscars.”
The actress has been making headlines since the controversy erupted in late January, when writer Sarah Hagi reposted Gascón’s old tweets on X (formerly Twitter).
Hagi included screengrabs of the original posts written in Spanish along with Google translations. Variety also published tweets from the actress.
In a 2016 post, Gascón called Muslims “a threat” to Europe and said, “It’s not about racism, it’s about Islam.”
In 2020, after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer, the actress questioned why people were protesting Floyd’s death because he was a “swindler.”
“I really think that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict swindler, but his death has served to once again demonstrate that there are people who still consider black people to be monkeys without rights and consider policemen to be assassins,” she posted. “They’re all wrong.”
There were also tweets complaining about Black and Asian winners on stage at the 2021 Oscars.
“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, or a Black Lives Matter demonstration,” Gascón wrote in a tweet. “Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala.”
Amid the controversy, Gascón sat down for a tearful interview with CNN en Español on Feb. 2, and said she is not a racist.
“I cannot step down from an Oscar nomination because I have not committed any crime nor have I harmed anyone,” the Spanish actress said as translated by CNN. “I am neither racist nor anything that all these people have tried to make others believe I am.”
Perhaps she will address the controversy again tonight.
The Oscars air live from Hollywood on ABC and stream live on Hulu on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, with the official live red carpet show airing at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.
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