Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard honored actress Karla Sofía Gascón while giving an acceptance speech at the BAFTA Awards Sunday, despite recent controversy over her offensive posts.
“Above all, I would like to thank all the wonderful artists who brought this film to life and who are here with us tonight,” Audiard said through an interpreter while accepting the award for best film not in the English language.
“My dear Zoe, my dear Selena, Giorgini, Paul, Juliet, Camille, Clement, Julia and your team,” he continued. “But also you, my dear Karla Sofia, that I kiss. I’m deeply proud of what we achieved together. Long live Emilia Pérez!”
Gascón, who has been nominated for a slew of awards for her leading role in the musical including a BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Academy Award, has subsequently been shut out from award campaigning after a slew of past hateful posts she made resurfaced online.
In the tweets, Gascón attacked Islam, George Floyd, and diversity at the Academy Awards in which she described the 2021 ceremony as an “Afro-Korean festival.”
Audiard first addressed the scandal in an interview with Deadline earlier this month where he described her posts as “inexcusable” and disclosed that he hadn’t spoken to her yet.
“I haven’t spoken to her, and I don’t want to,” Audiard said. “She is in a self-destructive approach that I can’t interfere in, and I really don’t understand why she’s continuing.”
Gascón issued several apologies since the controversy first came to light, most recently sharing on Instagram that she hopes her silence “will allow the film to be appreciated for what it is, a beautiful ode to love and difference.”
