Karla Sofía Gascón to attend Oscars despite tweet controversy

The Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón is reportedly set to attend this Sunday’s Oscars after controversy over bigoted tweets.

The Spanish actor, who is nominated for best actress, had been removed from the campaign trail by Netflix after resurfaced tweets led to a backlash.

According to Variety, the streamer will now be paying for Gascón’s expenses as she prepares to travel to Los Angeles for the ceremony.

Gascón is the first out transgender actor to be nominated for an Oscar and had been a visible presence on the awards trail, featuring at events, Q&As and awards ceremonies after the crime musical Emilia Pérez became a darling of the season.

But at the end of January, resurfaced tweets showed the star to have expressed many hateful views in the past towards people of colour, Muslims and diversity at the Oscars. The film’s director, Jacques Audiard, called her tweets “inexcusable” while co-star Zoe Saldaña said she was “disappointed”.

Gascón released a number of statements and had an hour-long interview, all of which she reportedly managed herself without Netflix’s involvement. “As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain,” she said.

Earlier this month, the star pulled out of Spain’s prestigious Goya awards, with the country’s culture minister saying she had “tarnished” what had been seen as a great achievement.

She did not attend the Critics Choice awards, the Baftas or this past weekend’s Screen Actors Guild awards despite being nominated for best actress at all. Reportedly, Netflix had also removed her from many campaign ads.

There had been no official statement from Netflix but earlier this month, the chief content officer, Bela Bajaria, was asked about it on the podcast The Town. “I think it’s really a bummer for the 100 incredibly talented people who made an amazing movie,” Bajaria said. “And if you look at the nominations, and all of this awards love that it’s received, I think it’s such a bummer that it distracted from that.

Gascón released a final statement to apologise once again and also say she would pull back from speaking any further about the controversy, writing that she hoped her “silence will allow the film to be appreciated for what it is”.

It is unclear what her involvement will be on Sunday and whether she will walk the red carpet. Variety also reports that she will attend France’s César awards on 28 February.

Emilia Pérez is the most nominated film at this year’s Oscars with 13 nods. Gascón faces competition in her category from hot favourite Demi Moore, nominated for the body horror The Substance.