I don’t have any tolerance for any negative rhetoric towards people of any group,” said Saldaña about Gascón’s resurfaced social media posts

Journalist Sara Hagi discovered Gascón’s history of racist, Islamophobic and antisemitic posts on Thursday, days after Gascón became the first openly trans person to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. While some of the since-deleted posts dated to 2016, she’d made others as recently as 2023.

Zoe Saldana expressed her sadness over the criticism faced by her Emilia Perez co-star Karla Sofia Gascon, emphasizing the importance of empathy, inclusivity, and growth in addressing past mistakes.