Netflix has finally addressed the controversy surrounding Emilia Pérez’s Karla Sofía Gascón and her past insensitive comments that resurfaced last month. The entertainment platform, which holds the distribution rights for the film in the United States, Canada, and the UK, is currently in the middle of campaigning for the Oscar-nominated film.
ALSO READ | Who is Karla Sofía Gascón, first openly transgender actor to get historic Oscar nomination?
Bela Bajaria, Netflix’s Chief Content Officer, appeared on The Town podcast and discussed the storm taking over the film. When asked about how she feels about the tweets and the impact they had on the film and its campaign, Bajaria declined to comment directly about Gascon and her tweets. Instead, she expressed her disappointment, stating, “I think it’s really a bummer for the 100 very incredibly talented people who made an amazing movie. And if you look at the nominations, and all of the sorts of awards love that it has received, I think it's such a bummer that it’s distracted from that.”
Praising the cast and crew who worked on the film, she said, “It really has kind of taken the conversation in a different way [from] this incredible movie that Jacques Audiard – who is an incredible director – has made. It really is a bummer for Zoe [Saldaña] and Selena [Gomez] who gave incredible performances.”
She also shouted out the Netflix awards team for their effort in campaigning the film, noting that they “personally love” the film and “took care of it”.
Asked if Netflix would now consider conducting social media checks for clients in the future, Bajaria replied, “It’s not really common practise to vet social tweets. What I’ve heard a lot, which I think is interesting, is that a lot of people are re-evaluating that. The team did an incredible job on that campaign and I think it is raising questions for a lot of people of re-evaluating what that process is...”
Further questioned on whether Netflix would specifically vet social media, Bajaria said they are but emphasised the complexity of the challenge. “I think you also have to [ask]: Are we going to actually look at the personal social media of tens of thousands of people, every single day around the world, [given the] amount of original film and TV and co-prods that we make and license? It raises a lot of questions about what that should look like,” she said.
Despite it all, Bajaria, who has been with Netflix since 2016, said that even if she was versed about the controversy beforehand, the platform would still choose to distribute the film. “That movie is incredible and it's creative and bold... It resonated with a lot of people this year,” she said.
It was earlier reported that Netflix has cut all ties with Gascón and dropped her from the Oscars campaign. This move means that the streamer will no longer cover Gascón’s travel and accommodation expenses related to promoting the film or for the award ceremonies for which it secured nominations.
