Emilia Pérez got a highlight at tonight’s 2025 SAG Awards, but the film’s star, Karla Sofía Gascón, was nowhere to be seen.
Co-stars Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana presented at the annual awards show, where they introduced their Netflix film, which stars Gascón as a cartel leader who tries to disappear and transition to become a woman. Saldana plays Gascón’s lawyer in the movie, while Gomez plays Gascón’s character’s wife.
While Gascón is featured prominently in the film as its star, she was conspicuously absent from tonight’s ceremony, likely because of the slew of offensive tweets uncovered on her X account last month.
Gascón — who tweeted anti-Muslim tweets, called George Floyd a “drug addict and a hustler” and slammed Gomez as a “rich rat” years before the two worked together — was not expected to attend the SAG Awards, as reported by Page Six.
Instead, Saldana and Gomez represented Emilia Pérez tonight without her. Saldana told viewers, “Emilia Pérez was a magica collaboration where we got to sing and dance, and explore the journey of being authentically yourself.”
Gomez shared, “Emilia Pérez is a ride unlike any other. It’s thrilling, it’s heart-wrenching, and it’s always one fabulously choreographed step ahead of your expectations,” before kicking it back to Saldana, who said, “Every once in a while, we get a movie that dares to be as unpredictable as life itself,” before introducing clips from the film, which did feature a bit of Gascón, but mostly showcased the work of Saldana and Gomez.
While she was missing from tonight’s SAG Awards, Gascón has also missed the Critics Choice Awards, PGA Awards and Goya Awards, and did not attend the BAFTA awards despite being nominated.
She previously apologized for her offensive tweets, saying, “As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain,” but Page Six reports Netflix “did not pay for Gascón to fly to the US from Spain for crucial days of awards-season campaigning amidst the social media controversy.”
Gascón is expected to attend the Oscars, per Page Six, which will air March 2 at 7/6c on ABC.
