Transgender Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón under fire

Transgender Spanish actress Karla Sofía Gascón is under fire over offensive social media posts that have resurfaced online.

Gascón, 52, who is currently nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards for her starring role in the musical Emilia Pérez, has been slammed over the 'hurtful' posts, which criticize Islam, the Oscars, and George Floyd.

The posts, which were dug up by Muslim writer Sarah Hagi and translated into English by Variety, have since been deleted from Gascón's X account (formerly known as Twitter).

One post, from November 2020, read: '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.'

Another post from September 2020 featured a photo of a Muslim family dining in a restaurant in traditional Islamic attire, which included the wife covered from head-to-toe in a black burqa.

'Islam is marvelous, without any machismo. Women are respected, and when they are so respected they are left with a little squared hole on their faces for their eyes to be visible and their mouths, but only if she behaves. Although they dress this way for their own enjoyment. How DEEPLY DISGUSTING OF HUMANITY,' Gascón wrote.

In 2021 Gascón wrote that 'Islam fails to comply with international rights', and 'I am so sick of so much of this s**t, of islam, of christianity, of catholicism and of all the fucking beliefs of morons that violate human rights'.

She also posted about George Floyd, whose murder by Minneapolis police, as he protested 'I can't breathe', sparked the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

Gascón wrote: 'I really think that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict swindler, but his death has served to once again demonstrate that there are people who still consider black people to be monkeys without rights and consider policemen to be assassins. They are both wrong.'

The actress added: 'Too many things to reflect on regarding the behavior of our species every time an event occurs. Perhaps it is no longer a question of racism, but of social classes that feel threatened by each other. Maybe that’s the only real difference.'

Gascón, who is the first transgender actress to be nominated for an Oscar, also slammed the Hollywood ceremony in a scathing post from 2021. 

'More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films, I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala,' she posted. 

She also criticized China during the Covid pandemic, writing: 'The Chinese vaccine, apart from the mandatory chip, comes with two spring rolls, a cat that moves its hand, 2 plastic flowers, a pop-up lantern, 3 telephone lines and one euro for your first controlled purchase.'

Responding to the controversy in a statement to DailyMail.com, Gascón said, 'I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt.' 

She continued, 'As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness.' 

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Gascón's posts have already been criticized by The Muslim Public Affairs Council, who issued a statement to The Wrap on Thursday.

'Deleted or not, these tweets are hurtful, offensive, and shocking, most especially coming from someone who is a member of another vulnerable community,' they said.

'Muslims are part of every community, including the transgender community.' 

Gascón is up against Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Mikey Madison (Anora), Demi Moore (The Substance) and Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here) for Best Actress at the upcoming Oscars. 

Her film Emilia Pérez was also recognized in several categories including top honor Best Picture, Best Director for Jacques Audiard, Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldana, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best International Feature.

In the film, Karla portrays titular character Emilia Perez, who is a cartel leader who enlists the help of unappreciated lawyer Rita Mora Castro (played by Zoe Saldana) to help fake her death so that she can finally live authentically as her true self.

The star completed most of her gender transition in 2018 and announced her new identity after acting in Mexican telenovelas for years.