Karla Sofía Gascón, the controversial Oscar-nominated Emilia Pérez star, has given special thanks on social media to Madonna.
Gascón, the first openly transgender actress to be nominated for the Academy Award for best actress, caused a firestorm of controversy in January after old tweets of hers that contained bigoted speech against marginalized communities surfaced. She was dropped from the Emilia Pérez Oscar campaign and its director disavowed her; however, she did attend the Oscars ceremony March 2.
On Wednesday Gascon shared an Instagram Story of a black-and-white photo of Madonna embracing her. She captioned it, “Madonna, I want to thank you for all the love you have shown me, for your invitation to the party you gave after the Oscars and for your words of love and strength. I love you.”
Madonna had previously stated that Emilia Pérez was her favorite movie of the year, and posted a photo of herself holding director Jacques Audiard‘s Oscar, with Audiard next to her.
Gascón said in an interview in October that Madonna attended the premiere of Emilia Perez and it made her cry. “She told me, ‘You’re amazing!’ She was crying and crying,” Gascón recalled. “I said, ‘Madonna, please. It’s only a film. Be happy!'”
Gascón added in her Story Wednesday that she wanted to thank “all my fellow Hollywood professionals who expressed support and admiration for me that night, both at the gala and at the party.”
Gascón lost the best actress Oscar to Anora star Mikey Madison, but her co-star Zoe Saldaña won the best supporting actress trophy.
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