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“He is the reason — they are the reason — I signed up to do this film in the first place,” Saldana said of her nephew in the press room, after first thanking costar Karla Sofía Gascón in her acceptance speech.
Zoe Saldana just scored a big win for Emilia Pérez amid controversy surrounding one of the film’s stars.
The 46-year-old actress took home the BAFTA Award for best supporting actress for the film, which has been overshadowed by headlines surrounding cast member Karla Sofía Gascón this awards season.
After Saldana’s win, she took a moment to highlight “one last thing that I didn’t get to say on stage” — her trans nephew. “I’m dedicating all of these awards and the film Emilia Pérez to my nephew, Eli,” Saldana told press backstage in London.
“He is the reason — they are the reason — I signed up to do this film in the first place,” she said. “So as the proud aunt of a trans life, I will always stand with my community of trans people.”
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Saldaña played Rita Mora Castro, a lawyer who helps a Mexican cartel leader gain access to gender-affirming surgery.
Emilia Pérez has stacked up the nominations this awards season, receiving 11 for the BAFTAs including best film, director, leading actress Karla Sofía Gascón and supporting actress for Selena Gomez.
Despite her costar Gascón being thrust into headlines around the world for past controversial tweets, Saldaña still thanked her in her acceptance speech.
“I want to thank my wonderful cast, Karla, Selena, Adriana… Films are supposed to change hearts and challenge minds. And I hope that Emilia Pérez did something like this, please, because voices need to be heard.”
While she didn’t mention him directly, since President Donald Trump‘s inauguration last month, he has signed a series of executive actions that would limit transgender and nonbinary people’s rights — one of which was an order aimed at eliminating the idea of a “gender identity” separate from sex in the federal government.
“I will take historic action to defeat the toxic poison of gender ideology and reaffirm that God created two genders, male and female,” he said during a campaign speech in October.
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After coming under fire for alleged past posts that expressed racism, Islamophobia, and antisemitism, Best Actress Oscar nominee Gascón apologized and insisted some of those posts — including one purportedly attacking Gomez specifically — were completely fabricated in a recent interview.
The since-deleted tweets, which were first resurfaced by journalist Sarah Hagi, were largely posted between 2020 and 2021. One purported example, dated Nov. 22, 2020: “I’m Sorry, Is it just my impression or is there more muslims in Spain? Every time I go to pick up my daughter from school there are more women with their hair covered and their skirts down to their heels. Next year instead of English we’ll have to teach Arabic.”
Additionally, in one of Gascón’s unverified tweets from 2022 she allegedly branded Gomez a “rich rat.”
Speaking with CNN en Español about this post in particular, per The Hollywood Reporter, Gascón emphasized, “Of course that’s not mine. I have never said anything about my partner. I would never refer to her that way.”
She then suggested that the timing of this controversy has been to target her ahead of the Oscars. “I start thinking about where this comes from,” she said, suggesting that it could be an attempt to derail her chances at becoming the first transgender person to win an acting Oscar.
Since that interview, Gascón has taken a vow of silence for rest of awards season, so as not to further negatively impact the film.
