London [US], February 17 : As expected, Jacques Audiard's Spanish drama 'Emilia Perez' emerged victorious in Best Non-English Language Film category at the 78th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA).
The film's director Jacques Audiard accepted the award. More than the win it was his acceptance speech that caught eyeballs.
Despite controversy over actor Karla Sofia Gascon's offensive tweets, he gave a shout out to former in his speech, as per Variety.
Audiard thanked Gascon who was absent at the ceremony and has effectively been removed from the awards campaign.
"Above all, I would like to thank all the wonderful artists who brought this film to life and who are here with us tonight," he said. "My dear Zoe, my dear Selena, Giorgini, Paul, Juliet, Camille, Clement, Julia and your team, but also you, my dear Karla Sofia, that I kiss. I'm deeply proud of what we achieved together. Long live 'Emilia Perez'," he mentioned.
While Gascon skipped the BAFTAs as she had the Critics Choice Awards, PGA Awards and the Goya Awards her co-stars Selena Gomez and Ze Saldana were in attendance, both nominated in the best supporting actress category. The two were also among the presenters at the ceremony.
Gascon recently faced backlash after X users discovered tweets from 2020 and 2021 that had controversial views on Muslims, George Floyd and diversity at the Oscars.
Later in a statement to Variety, she apologised, saying,"I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt. 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."
Among her several resurfaced tweets, Gascon critiqued the diversity of the 2021 Oscars ceremony."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 wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
She also called George Floyd a "drug addict swindler" after he was killed by a police officer in 2020 and inspired protests around the U.S.
In India, one can watch the winning moment of Jacques on Lionsgate Play.
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