Zoe Saldaña Says She’s ‘Really Sad’ Over Emilia Pérez Costar Karla Sofía Gascón’s Tweets: ‘I Don’t Support It’

Zoe Saldaña is reacting to the controversy surrounding her Emilia Pérez costar Karla Sofía Gascón.

“I’m still processing everything that has transpired in the last couple of days, and I’m sad,” Saldaña, 46, said in a London Q&A in response to the revelation of bigoted social media posts from her fellow Oscar nominee, per The Hollywood Reporter.

“It makes me really sad because I don’t support [it], and I don’t have any tolerance for any negative rhetoric towards people of any group,” she continued. “I can only attest to the experience that I had with each and every individual that was a part, that is a part, of this film, and my experience and my interactions with them was about inclusivity and collaboration and racial, cultural, and gender equity. And it just saddens me.”

Gascón, 52, issued an apology and deactivated her X (formerly Twitter) account on Friday over since-deleted posts she had written criticizing Muslim culture, George Floyd, diversity at the Oscars and more.

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter the same day, the Spanish actress mentioned a “campaign of hate and misinformation” and said, “I apologize again if anyone has ever felt offended or in the future. I am a human being who also made, makes and will make mistakes from which I will learn. I am not perfect.”

Speaking to moderator Edith Bowman in a Q&A alongside Emilia Pérez writer-director Jacques Audiard and songwriters-composers Camille and Clément Ducol — an event Gascón was also scheduled to participate in, per THR — Saldaña said, “It saddens me that we are having to face this setback right now. But I’m happy that you’re all here and that you’re all still showing up for Emilia because the message that this film has is so powerful and the change that it can bring forward to communities that are marginalized day in and day out is important.”

She concluded, “All that I can attest is that all of us that came together to tell this story, we came together for love and for respect and curiosity, and we will continue to spread that message. That’s all we can say right now. Thank you.”

In Emilia Pérez, Saldaña plays Rita, a lawyer helping Gascón’s titular character, a Mexican drug cartel leader, fake her death and undergo her transition into a woman. The movie led the 2025 Oscar nominations tally on Jan. 23 with 13 nods including best picture — the most-ever for a predominantly non-English-language film — as well as for Saldaña’s supporting and Gascón’s lead performances. Gascón is the first openly transgender actress in Academy Awards history. Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and Édgar Ramírez costar.

The outrage over Gascón’s old posts is the latest in a series of controversies Emilia Pérez has faced since it made its Netflix debut in November. LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD called it a “profoundly retrograde portrayal of a trans woman” and a “step backward for trans representation.”

Meanwhile, Gomez, 32, responded to criticism about her Spanish speaking onscreen, while reports surfaced that Gascón’s voice was enhanced in the film with the use of controversial artificial intelligence-driven technology.