Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria responded to controversy swirling around “Emilia Pérez” star Karla Sofia Gascón during Thursday’s episode of “The Town” podcast.
The film centered around a wealthy trans woman who attempts to redeem her pre-transition self by founding a nonprofit that claims to help others. The plotline was nothing more than Hollywood’s eye-rolling attempt at subjecting the masses to more woke nonsense. Despite several award nominations, it took no time at all for the transgender star to fall flat on her face amid a whirlwind of backlash. Netflix quickly nixed Gascón’s public appearances after offensive social media comments from the past came back to haunt her, effectively dragging down what was left of the movie’s reputation. Addressing the sloppy situation for the first time, Bajaria said the ordeal was a “bummer.”
Bajaria lamented on the impact of the fallout over Gascón’s tweets that included Islamophobic references and commentary about George Floyd, and admitted the controversy chopped the film at the knees and possibly cost the entire cast an Oscar.
“I think it’s really a bummer for the 100 incredibly talented people who made an amazing movie,” Bajaria said on the podcast.
“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.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 29: Karla Sofía Gascón attends The French American Film Festival Opening Night Premiere of Netflix’s “Emilia Perez” at DGA Theater Complex on October 29, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic) Getty Images
Speaking to host Matthew Beloni the Netflix CCO admitted the record-breaking 13-Oscar nominations for Jacques Audiard’s musical were gravely at risk, but declined to confirm whether the company will vet the social media accounts of their stars moving forward.
it’s so insane that karla sofía gascón still has these tweets up. straight up have never seen tweets this racist from someone actively campaigning to win an ACADEMY AWARD. there are more than a dozen… pic.twitter.com/1rcNzkJXuo
— sarah hagi (@KindaHagi) January 30, 2025
“I do think it is raising questions for a lot of people about re-evaluating that process,” Bajaria said.
Netflix pulled the funding of Gascón’s scheduled public appearances following the star’s public humiliation in an apparent attempt to salvage what was left of the film’s chances at an Oscar win, but the damaged seemed to have already been done.
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 11: (L-R) Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldana and Adriana Paz attend the “Emilia Perez” Headline Gala during the 68th BFI London Film Festival at The Royal Festival Hall on October 11, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for BFI)
“It really has kind of taken the conversation in a different way [from] this incredible movie that Jacques Audiard – who is an incredible director – has made. It really is a bummer for a lot of the people, like [co-stars] Zoe [Saldaña] and Selena [Gomez]. And our awards team did an incredible campaign for that movie.”
Netflix and Gascón’s personal representatives have been criticized for not spotting their client’s problematic tweets ahead of the film’s release. (RELATED: Netflix Seems To Be Really Regretting Hitching Its Wagon To Trans Actor Karla Sofia Gascón)
The Oscars will be broadcast live March 2.
