Since its arrival on Netflix in December, the Spanish-language French film Emilia Pérez has been a nesting doll of controversies. The musical, directed by Jacques Audiard, has been slammed by critics and on social media for its regressive portrayal of trans identity. The film has also been critiqued for its “Eurocentric” depiction of Mexico — even inspiring a viral spoof film made by Mexican filmmakers, called Johanne Sacreblu — and Audiard himself has made dismissive if not offensive comments about Mexico and the Spanish language. Meanwhile, earlier this week, the movie’s Oscar lead actress, Karla Sofía Gascón, was most notable for being at war with “Brazilian Twitter” for comments she made about her Best Actress rival Fernanda Torres’s social media team.

Despite all this, Emilia Pérez is up for 13 Oscar nominations and is predicted to pick up at least one for Zoe Saldaña in the Best Supporting Actress category. Gascón’s Oscar hopes are likely done, however, following a series of offensive, resurfaced tweets in what might be one of the most surprising scandals in Oscars history.

On Wednesday, after Gascón was already in the news for her comments about Torres, X users began circulating years-old tweets from the Spanish actress using derogatory language aimed at marginalized communities. The tweets, from as recent as 2021, include disturbing remarks about George Floyd, Islam, and even the nonwhite winners of the 2021 Oscars ceremony. Other tweets find her casually using anti-gay and other hateful language.

The Oscars aren’t unfamiliar with controversy. However, the mounting issues corroding the Emilia Pérez Oscar campaign are pretty extraordinary — and even make the controversy surrounding 2019 Best Picture Green Book look quaint in comparison. Likewise, it’s an ironic but extremely familiar trajectory for a movie that has been bolstered by the Hollywood establishment for its diversity and “progressive” themes.

What did Gascón’s tweets say?

On Thursday, journalist Sarah Hagi posted a thread with screenshots of more than a dozen tweets from Gascón (in her native Spanish) disparaging Islam and immigrants from the Arabic countries. In one tweet posted on July 2, 2016, and translated by Vox editor Izzie Ramirez, she says, “Islam is becoming an infection for humanity that needs to be cured urgently.” In another tweet from September........

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