Karla Sofía Gascón Addresses Old Tweets: "I Have Fought for a Better World"

You’ve probably seen it happen before — a celebrity is on the rise, their name is everywhere, and then, out of nowhere, old social media posts come back to haunt them. The unfortunate truth is once you put something on the internet, you can never truly take it back. As January 2025 came to an end, Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón found herself in the hot seat for things she posted on social media nearly a decade prior.

Karla’s name made headlines for her stellar performance as the film started sweeping up awards. But Karla Sofía Gascón’s old tweets resurfaced, went viral, and caused intense backlash. Some of these posts, originally written in Spanish, included harsh comments about Islam and dismissive remarks about George Floyd.

This controversy started when X user @kindahagi (Sarah Hagi) shared screenshots of Karla’s posts between 2016 and 2020. Sarah noted there were “more than a dozen” shockingly racist posts. “This is all from the star of a movie that is campaigning on its progressive values, you really gotta laugh,” Sarah added as she continued to share screenshots and explain why these posts were so surprising.

Shortly after, Variety translated them, confirming what Karla said.

One post targeted Muslim women in Spain. Karla seemed frustrated by their presence in public spaces. She penned, “We can’t even go to the beach without seeing these covered women. This isn’t their country, and we don’t have to accept this.” In another post, she dismissed George Floyd as “a drug addict and a hustler,” downplaying the impact of his murder and the protests that followed.

That wasn’t the end of it. In another post, she seemingly mocked the idea of systemic racism, “Every time something happens to a Black person, it’s racism. But when it happens to someone else, what is it?” The tweets painted a picture that clashed with the progressive themes of Emilia Pérez, which explores justice and identity.

According to Deadline, Karla has issued an apology, saying, “I have fought for a better world,” and expressing grief for her words. Unfortunately, not everyone was ready to forgive her.

While the tweets alone were enough to anger many, some Spanish-speaking users argued they were actually worse than the English translations suggested. In a thread on Reddit, some pointed out that Karla’s phrasing carried a much harsher tone in Spanish than people even realized.

For example, she used the word “hembras” to describe Muslim women, which technically translates to “females” but is often used in a dehumanizing way.

One Reddit user summed up the issue by saying, “A simple Google translation doesn’t do justice to how vile these tweets are.” Others noted that her tone was more aggressive in Spanish, making her words feel even more inflammatory than they appeared in English.

Per Deadline, Karla did issue a statement attempting to address the backlash she was receiving for her old posts.

"I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt. 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 continued, “All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.”

While some people have accepted her apology, others feel it falls short. Some critics argued that she focused more on her personal struggles rather than acknowledging the harm her own words caused. Furthermore, some are questioning if Karla would have apologized at all if her old posts hadn’t gone viral during such a pivotal moment in her career.