Netflix pulls itself away from Oscar-nominated film ‘Emilia Perez’ star Karla Sofia Gascon due to her controversial posts

The streamer is also no longer covering expenses for “her travel to the various awards shows or her styling for any appearances at these events”, they said

Netflix has reportedly pulled away itself from Karla Sofia Gascon, the star of its multiple Oscar-nominated film Emilia Perez, amid the controversy over her old social media posts that were viewed as Islamophobic and racist.

According to a report by entertainment outlet Variety, Gascon – who made history as the first openly transgender performer to be nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards – no longer features on the new ‘For Your Consideration’ advertisement which highlights the 13 Oscar nominations for the film backed by the streamer.

After news about her old posts started going viral last month, Gascon issued an apology and sat down for an interview with CNN en Espanol over the weekend that she booked without Netflix’s involvement, according to Variety.

On Tuesday, she once again addressed the situation in an Instagram post, tagging multiple publications, including Variety.

“They want to subject me to ‘cancel culture’. I ask the Hollywood experts, the journalists who know me and have followed my career — How can I move forward?” Gascon wrote in Spanish.

The For Your Consideration ad includes its nods for best picture, international feature, director (Jacques Audiard), supporting actress (Zoe Saldana), and original song (El Mal). The film’s title as well as any images of Gascon have been removed from much of the campaign material, the report stated.

The campaign now prominently features Saldana along with other co-stars Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz, who weren’t even nominated, it added.

Before the scandal broke out, Gascon was expected to travel from her residence in Spain to Los Angeles for the second phase of the Oscars campaign.

Sources told the publication that that Netflix and the PR agency The Lede Company have severed direct communication with the actor and are only in touch with her through Gascon’s United Talent Agency representative, Jeremy Barber.

The streamer is also no longer covering expenses for “her travel to the various awards shows or her styling for any appearances at these events”, they said.

Therefore, she isn’t expected to attend any of the upcoming award showcases, including the AFI Awards luncheon, Critics Choice Awards, the Directors Guild of America Awards and the Producers Guild of America Awards. In case she wants to participate in these events, Gascon would have to pay for everything, right from her airfare to her accommodations, added the insiders.

Old posts from Gascon’s account on Twitter resurfaced on January 30, some going as far back as 2016, that took aim at Muslims’ dress, language and culture in her native Spain. She also suggested that Islam be banned.

And less than a month after George Floyd, a Black man, who was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer in 2020, prompting a national reckoning with police brutality and racism, Gascon offered her assessment of Floyd as a drug addict who “very few people ever cared” for.

Gascon was a regular in Mexican telenovelas before transitioning in 2018. In “Emilia Perez”, she plays both a menacing cartel kingpin and the woman who emerges after the kingpin fakes his own death, Emilia Perez. Years later, Emilia contacts the lawyer who facilitated her transition (Saldana) to help her reunite with her wife (Gomez) and their children.

The 97th Academy Awards will be held in Los Angeles on March 2.

Meghan Markle Wore Sweatshirt With Her Children’s Names

Meghan Markle honored her children by wearing a sweatshirt with their names on it.

In an Instagram Reel posted on Tuesday, February 4, Markle, 43, can be seen wearing a black crewneck with the words ‘Archie & Lili’ embroidered in white cursive around the neckline.

The Duchess of Sussex paired the sweatshirt with casual jeans and wore gold bangles on her wrist. She wore her hair down with natural makeup.

It’s not the first time Markle has honored Archie, 5, and Lili, 3, with her wardrobe. The duchess has worn several pieces of jewelry personalized with her children’s initials and names in recent years.

For example, she wore a gold Ariel Gordon pendant necklace with Archie and Lili’s names on it during a visit to Colombia in August 2024.

In Tuesday’s video, Markle thanked Billie Eilish for donating signed merchandise to a fan who lost a shirt from the singer’s concert in the California wildfires.

Markle said she met the teenager and her mom while visiting a community that had been affected by the fires in January.

“I said, ‘Well, I don’t know Billie Eilish, but I’m gonna figure out how to get you this shirt,’” Markle recalled.

“So I thought of everybody that I knew, and I made a voice note. And I was like, ‘Please, can someone get this voice note to Billie Eilish? Here’s what I’m asking.’”

Markle said she connected with the lead singer of Maroon 5, Adam Levine, and his wife, Behati Prinsloo, who “helped get this over the line.”

“A huge thank you, Billie Eilish. This is going to mean so much to her,” Markle gushed. “To everyone who is showing up for people in big and small ways, to get through what’s happened in California, just thank you so much.”

Gisele’s New Baby Is Here

Gisele Bündchen continues to thrive post-divorce. TMZ reports that the supermodel has given birth to her third child, her first with her jujitsu instructor turned boyfriend, Joaquim Valente.

The new parents were last seen on an apparent babymoon, galavanting around Costa Rica — where Bündchen owns property and their love story flourished. While the start of Bündchen and Valente’s romance remains unclear, People claims they turned from friends to lovers in June 2023. When their pregnancy was announced, a source told People: “Gisele and Joaquim are happy for this new chapter in their life and they’re looking forward to creating a peaceful and loving environment for the whole family.” Cheers to that.

Bündchen already has two children, Vivian, 12, and Benjamin, 15, with her ex-husband, Tom Brady, who she filed for divorce from in October 2022. While Brady went rogue and posted a sunset image with “Landslide” playing in the background and three heart emojis after Bündchen’s pregnancy was first announced, his socials are currently dark. Someone check on him, please.

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds Are Doing Just Fine

Over the past several months, Blake Lively has been locked in a messy legal battle with her It Ends With Us director and co-star, Justin Baldoni. The resulting back-and-forth has spawned a handful of lawsuits and a mind-boggling number of leaked texts — and this week, Baldoni followed through on his threat to create a website of “evidence” he claims clears his name. Amid all the drama, sources have clarified that Lively is still BFFs with Taylor Swift. But with Ryan Reynolds’s name popping up in Baldoni’s complaint, perhaps you’re also wondering how Lively and her husband are doing?

Well, if People’s sources are to be believed, the couple are doing just fine. On Wednesday, an insider told the tabloid that Lively and Reynolds, who share four children, are planning to weather this storm as a unified front. “She and Ryan are in it together,” the source said. “They are always a tremendous team. They will get through this as a team, too.”

The source added that Lively has been “surprisingly calm,” and is trying her best to “focus on family life.”

“She’s in constant contact with her team,” they added. “She sees the whole lawsuit drama as a necessary bump, but she’s not letting it take away from her main focus, which is her children.”

This “lawsuit drama” isn’t going away anytime soon — a trial is currently scheduled for March 2026. But it sounds like the actress isn’t too worried about her eventual day in court: TMZ reported that after she met with the judge presiding over the case on Monday, Lively is as confident as ever that her allegations will overshadow Baldoni’s “sideshow.”

Black Sabbath’s original lineup to reunite for Ozzy Osbourne’s final concert: ‘The greatest heavy metal show ever’

Black Sabbath’s original lineup to reunite for Ozzy Osbourne’s final concert: ‘The greatest heavy metal show ever’

Emlyn Travis

February 5, 2025 at 5:53 PM

Alright now! Black Sabbath’s original lineup is coming together to throw one big metal sendoff for legendary frontman Ozzy Osbourne.

Titled Back to the Beginning, the all-day charity concert will see Osbourne, bassist Geezer Butler, guitarist Tony Iommi, and drummer Bill Ward reunite onstage for the first time in 20 years at Birmingham’s Villa Park on July 5. Osbourne will play his own short set at the gig before joining Black Sabbath to take his final bow with his bandmates.

“It’s my time to go Back to the Beginning….time for me to give back to the place where I was born,” Osbourne wrote on Instagram. “How blessed am I to do it with the help of people whom I love. Birmingham is the true home of metal. Birmingham Forever.”

Related: Ozzy Osbourne apologizes to Britney Spears for insulting her dancing, asks her to ‘change a few movements’

They’re not doing it alone, either. The all-day event will also feature performances from metal greats like Metallica, Slayer, Pantera, Gojira, Halestorm, Alice In Chains, Lamb of God, Anthrax, and Mastodon, as well as a “supergroup” of musicians that includes Billy Corgan of The Smashing Pumpkins; Duff McKagan and Slash of Guns N’ Roses; Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit; Scott Ian of Anthrax; Sammy Hagar; Sleep Token II of Sleep Token; Papa V Perpetua of Ghost; Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine; and Wolfgang Van Halen. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg — more artists are expected to be announced in the future.

“This will be the greatest heavy metal show ever,” Morello, who also serves as the concert’s music director, added in a statement.

All proceeds from the event will go to a collection of charities, including Cure Parkinson’s, Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorn Children’s Hospice. Osbourne previously announced that he’d been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease — a progressive nervous system disorder that causes tremors, stiffness, speech changes, or slowing of movement — in 2020.

Related: Ozzy Osbourne used to poop in hotel guests’ shoes

Formed in 1968, Black Sabbath is one of the most revered heavy metal bands of all time, with over 75 million albums sold and a feast of hits that include “Iron Man,” “Paranoid,” “War Pigs,” and “Sweet Leaf.” The Birmingham band’s many accolades include an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 and three Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Osbourne was inducted as a solo artist into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year.

Over the last five decades, Black Sabbath’s lineup has shifted often as its members clashed with one another. Back to the Beginning marks the first time that all four founding members will take to the stage together since the band’s Ozzfest tour in 2005.

Tickets to the event will go on sale on Friday, Feb. 14 at 10 a.m. GMT/5 a.m. ET/2 a.m. PT. Visit LiveNation for more details.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly

‘Self-destructive’ Emilia Perez Oscars scandal explodes

The controversy surrounding this year’s most-nominated film at the Academy Awards, Emilia Perez, shows no signs of slowing down, with the film’s director now giving an extraordinary interview speaking out against his lead actress.

Spanish actress Karla Sofia Gascon plays the film’s titular role, and is nominated for the Best Actress Oscar at this year’s ceremony – making her the first openly transgender person ever nominated for an acting Oscar.

But since last week her Oscar campaign has been in tatters, after many of the star’s offensive past tweets resurfaced on social media. In the tweets – some posted as recently as a couple of years ago – Gascon makes disparaging remarks about different races and ethnic groups, about a past Oscar ceremony, and about celebrities including Miley Cyrus and her future Emilia Perez co-star, Selena Gomez (whom she referred to as a “rich rat”).

Now, the film’s director Jacques Audiard has given a jaw-dropping new interview to Deadline, distancing himself from the woman at the centre of his film.

“I haven’t spoken to her, and I don’t want to,” he told the outlet.

“She is in a self-destructive approach that I can’t interfere in, and I really don’t understand why she’s continuing. Why is she harming herself? Why? I don’t understand it, and what I don’t understand about this too is why she’s harming people who were very close to her,” he continued.

Karla Sofia Gascon has not stayed quiet as the backlash against her swelled. She’s released several public apologies that were not well received – in one, she insisted the old tweets had resurfaced due to a “campaign of hate and misinformation” against her. She later sat down for an emotional hour-long interview on Spanish CNN to defend herself.

And it appears she’s gone on this ill-advised publicity tour without the backing of Netflix, the studio responsible for making Emilia Perez.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the streaming giant has removed the actress from its Oscars campaign, despite the star being up for the Best Actress among the film’s 13 other Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Audiard and Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldana.

With Oscar season in full swing, Gascon was expected to attend several industry events in the coming days, including tomorrow’s AFI Awards luncheon in Los Angeles and Saturday’s Critics Choice Awards.

However, THR reports that in the light of Gascón’s problematic comments, Netflix has “no great interest” to cover her transportation costs from Spain or locally in the US, her accommodations, or to facilitate her attendance at any of the events leading up to the Oscars next month.

“There is no great interest on the part of Netflix to provide the usual courtesies afforded by a studio to an Oscar contender, such as transportation and accommodations, to facilitate her attendance at the remaining awards season gatherings,” the outlet reported.

One picture, circulating on social media, reveals the divide between the star of Emilia Perez and the rest of the cast and crew, clearly still hoping to salvage a few Oscar wins as voting for the awards remains open.

A newly-released For Your Consideration poster for Emilia Perez, used to tout the film among Academy voters, contains 11 separate shots from the movie – none of them featuring its lead actress.

In fact, Gascon has been entirely scrubbed from the poster, which highlights Saldana’s Best Supporting Actress nomination over her co-star’s Best Actress nod.

Saldana said she was “still processing” the controversy during a recent Q&A session about the film in London.

“It makes me really sad because I don’t support and don’t have any tolerance for any negative rhetoric towards people of any group,” she said.

The Scientists Haven’t Learned in Jurassic World Rebirth

Those dinosaur scientists sure keep pushing it. Jurassic Park is back with a new crew in Jurassic World Rebirth — and this time, they’re heading back to the original Jurassic Park research facility. A totally sane idea! Scarlett Johansson leads this new mission, alongside Jonathan Bailey as a paleontologist and Mahershala Ali as their guide. (Yes, Fiyero even cares for the animals outside of Wicked.) They’re trying to get dinosaur DNA to help with some medical breakthrough, but they quickly find out the island is home to all the reject dinosaurs that didn’t make it to the actual park. Like, uhh, whatever that scary mutant in the red tank is. “We put ourselves in a place we don’t belong,” Bailey says in the trailer. “Survival is a long shot.” No kidding! Except, of course, for the fact that they’ve got a new trilogy to helm.

Is Irv Gotti OK? We Might Have Some Answers…

News of Irv Gotti and the state of his physical well-being has some fans up in arms and now we’ve finally got a clue as to what he may be dealing with. Unfortunately for him, things aren’t looking too good.

As we told you back in Aug. 2024, Gotti opened up about his years long struggles with diabetes and revealed that he’d suffered a stroke related to the disease just six months prior. Though he was doing well in the immediate aftermath, the effects of the stroke made it to wear he had to walk around with a cane for awhile.

Now it looks like he’s fighting to get well again as a source close to him shared with All HipHop that he’s suffered yet another stroke and is allegedly “not responsive” as a result of a brain bleed. This update was also shared on Wednesday morning’s episode of “The Breakfast Club.”

While we can’t confirm that those reports are true nor do we know exactly where Gotti is (whether in a hospital or rehab facility), his reps have also ultimately decided to stay silent about the matter — at least for now. However, that’s not stopping people like Russell Simmons from sending their well wishes.

“Praying for Irvs full recovery, such a fun inspired good hearted person, such a beloved person. People keep up the prayers,” Simmons wrote in a post to Instagram. “To the people my age and younger, we are seeing the effects of toxic food and a toxic enviornment pray for our brother and try to make the necessary changes in your and your familes diets and lifestyles[sic].”

It’s also not stopping folks like 50 Cent from trolling his long-time feuding partner. As evidenced by his own post to Instagram on Tuesday, 50 reposted a screenshot of Gotti with the rumored news about his ailing health with the caption: “”Damn I wanted him to see my new shows yo!”

While 50 will more than likely always be a troll regardless, if Gotti is in dire straits, here’s hoping he makes a full recovery soon.

Emilia Pérez” Director Condemns Karla Sofía Gascón’s ‘Hateful’ Tweets: ‘I Don’t Want to’ Speak with Her

“Emilia Pérez” Director Condemns Karla Sofía Gascón’s ‘Hateful’ Tweets: ‘I Don’t Want to’ Speak with Her

Jack Smart

February 5, 2025 at 9:42 PM

Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard is speaking out about the controversies surrounding his movie’s star, Karla Sofía Gascón.

In a candid interview with Deadline published Wednesday, Feb. 5, the French writer-director, 72, called her resurfaced social media posts criticizing Muslim culture, George Floyd, diversity and more “inexcusable.”

“It’s very hard for me to think back to the work I did with Karla Sofía,” said Audiard of making Emilia Pérez, his Oscar-contending Netflix musical-thriller about a Mexican drug cartel leader (played by Gascón) who transitions into a woman. The movie led this year’s Academy Awards nominations list with 13, the most ever for a film predominantly in a non-English language, including for Best Picture, Gascón’s lead performance (making her the first openly transgender acting Oscar nominee) and Audiard’s screenplay and direction.

“The exceptional atmosphere that we had on the set,” he continued, “was indeed based on trust. And when you have that kind of relationship and suddenly you read something that that person has said, things that are absolutely hateful and worthy of being hated, of course that relationship is affected. It’s as if you fall into a hole.”

Related: Emilia Pérez Star Karla Sofía Gascón to Skip 2025 Critics Choice Awards amid Her Controversies: Reports

Following the public outcry over her old posts, Gascón, 52, issued an apology and deactivated her X (formerly Twitter) account on Jan. 31. The Spanish actress posted another statement on Tuesday to her Instagram account, saying she has “nothing to hide” and asking media outlets how she should “move forward” amid awards season, where she and Emilia Pérez are nominated at the Feb. 7 Critics Choice Awards, Feb. 16 BAFTA Film Awards and March 2 Oscars.

On Feb. 2, Gascón appeared on CNN in an emotional interview, refuting accusations of racism and Islamophobia and addressing her alleged post on X against Emilia Pérez costar Selena Gomez. “I cannot step down from an Oscar nomination because I have not committed any crime, nor have I harmed anyone,” she said, per CNN. “I am neither racist nor anything that all these people have tried to make others believe I am.”

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“I haven’t spoken to her, and I don’t want to,” Audiard told Deadline when asked about contacting Gascón. “She is in a self-destructive approach that I can’t interfere in, and I really don’t understand why she’s continuing. Why is she harming herself? … She’s talking about herself as a victim, which is surprising. It’s as if she thought that words don’t hurt.”

He added that Gascón is also “harming people who were very close to her,” including the Emilia Pérez crew and her Oscar-nominated costar Zoe Saldaña. “I’m not getting in touch with her because right now she needs space to reflect and take accountability for her actions.”

Related: Zoe Saldaña Says She’s ‘Really Sad’ Over Emilia Pérez Costar Karla Sofía Gascón’s Tweets: ‘I Don’t Support It’

Acknowledging that the conversation around Emilia Pérez has shifted to Gascón’s ongoing controversy, Audiard said, “Very unfortunately, it is taking up all the space, and that makes me very sad.”

Emilia Pérez is now streaming on Netflix.

Read the original article on People

Gisele Bündchen, 44, gives birth to third baby with Joaquim Valente

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The former Victoria’s Secret Angel recently gave birth to her first child with boyfriend Joaquim Valente.

According to Page Six, both mum and newborn are “healthy”, but details regarding the baby’s name or sex have yet to be revealed.

The pair had planned to wait until birth to find out if they were having a girl or a boy, TMZ reports.

Bündchen’s representative has not responded to requests for comment.

The 44-year-old supermodel has two other children, son Benjamin, 15, and daughter Vivian, 12, who she shares with ex-husband Tom Brady.

When Bündchen married the NFL star in February 2009, she also became the stepmother to his son Jack, now 17, from Brady’s previous relationship with Bridget Moynahan.

She has consistently referred to Jack as her “bonus” son and has continued to share moments of their bond on Instagram since her split with Brady in 2022.

Following her divorce from Brady, Bündchen moved on with Valente who is her jiu-jitsu instructor.

The couple has been training together since 2021, with Bündchen maintaining that her relationship with Valente did not begin until after her marriage ended.

Their romance was made public in February 2024 with sources telling Page Six they became an item in June of the previous year.

Bündchen and Valente were first linked in November 2022 after the workout instructor joined the model and her kids on a trip to Costa Rica just weeks after her divorce was finalised.

Brady has since been linked to models Irina Shayk and Brooks Nader.

Bündchen was spotted debuting her baby bump in October 2024, amid speculation about her pregnancy, yet she chose not to make any public comments about her growing family.

Brady also refrained from discussing the matter, although a source revealed that the Super Bowl champion “never imagined” Bündchen would have children with someone else.

“At the end of the day, Tom’s sole focus is on his children and his career,” the insider told Page Six. “What Gisele decides to do with her own life is really none of his business.”