An unexpected controversy has upended the Oscar race in an awards season defined by historical milestones. Karla Sofía Gascón, the first openly trans woman nominated for best actress, is now facing intense scrutiny after resurfaced tweets exposed years-long patterns of Islamophobic and racist rhetoric.
Freelance culture writer Sarah Hagi, a Canada-based journalist and co-host of the podcast “Scamfluencers,” uncovered the tweets and found herself at the center of the conversation. While visiting family in Southeast Asia, she followed her journalist’s instinct, researching Gascón’s political leanings after noticing what she described as a “dog whistle” in a post. What she discovered was far worse than she anticipated: tweets in Spanish ranging from anti-Muslim sentiment to outright bigotry, all of which had remained public and unchallenged.
Gascón has since deleted her Twitter/X account and released a statement apologizing for her tweets.
In an interview with Variety, Hagi discusses the backlash, the accusations of being a “studio plant,” and why she believes the Academy must act.
What prompted you to investigate Karla Sofia Gascon’s social media history?
I wasn’t paying much attention to her at first, but I’m naturally curious, especially when it comes to public figures and their politics. I saw a tweet in which she used the word “Islamist,” which I found intense. It wasn’t a conspiracy — I do this with many celebrities. I just searched a term, and what I found was shocking.
There’s been speculation that you were part of a smear campaign — essentially, a “studio plant” digging up dirt on behalf of a competitor. What do you say to that?
Absolutely not. I’m not a studio plant. I’m just a person. The idea that a studio would pick me, someone who doesn’t even have TikTok, is hilarious. This was a total fluke.
You’ve been open about identifying as a Black Muslim. How did that shape your reaction to what you uncovered?
It’s fair to say it was triggering. I could have looked, and there would be nothing, but it was just a hunch. It doesn’t mean that someone who said something like that is going to have as many racist tweets as she did or as many anti-Muslim tweets as she did. When you have an experience like I do, you know what the dog whistles are, and to me, that was a very clear dog whistle.
So, was it as simple as searching a keyword, and everything was just… there?
Yeah, I mean, at this point, it was Wednesday evening for me. I don’t remember the exact time, but I figured I’d post the tweets the following morning because I didn’t think they’d gain traction, but I wanted them to get traction.
It was as simple as searching one word, and from there, I followed extra keywords — especially in Spanish since that’s the language she tweets in. I searched terms like ‘Islam,’ ‘Muslims’ in Spanish, ‘hijab,’ and anything that might bring up relevant results. And when I typed in those words, these tweets had barely any engagement, maybe a couple hundred views in total, one or two likes at most.
There was zero traction, even when she initially tweeted them. This wasn’t some viral controversy waiting to resurface. She had tweeted these things, and they had existed online, unchallenged, from 2016 to 2023. There was no pushback, no visibility. This was just how she was casually tweeting. It wasn’t some deep dive or orchestrated effort — it was all just there.
You said you wanted the tweets to gain traction. Why?
So many reasons. First, these tweets weren’t hidden. I’m floored because we’re talking about a frontrunner from one of the most-nominated films in Academy history. Her nomination was historic — the first trans woman nominated for Best Actress.
You’d think that with this level of visibility, someone on her team, at Netflix, or behind her campaign would have reviewed her tweets. Yet, they were still up. It wasn’t just about one comment — there were tweets about George Floyd and many other things. It signaled arrogance — either a belief that these things don’t matter or the assumption that no one would bother looking.
When someone in a historic position representing a film built on so-called progressive values has a history of racist and bigoted tweets, it exposes the hypocrisy of it all. This isn’t about meaningful representation — it’s just marketing. And that marketing falls apart when the person at the center of it is a racist bigot.
Some might argue that digging up old tweets is an example of “cancel culture” looking to “cancel” the next person.
I entirely disregard those people intellectually on every level. These tweets existed from 2016 to 2023, which I found based on the words I searched. Who knows what else is out there? More tweets have surfaced since.
She had every opportunity to ensure these wouldn’t exist online anymore. Hundreds of thousands of dollars go into an awards campaign — this isn’t some random person who stumbled into the spotlight. This was a calculated effort from a major studio. They should have deleted them if they didn’t want people to find these tweets. I just happened to be the one who searched. It could have been anyone. And yet, with a single word search, I found some of the most jaw-droppingly racist tweets.
How do you feel about Gascon’s responses since the tweets have come out?
As for her response — her apology wasn’t an apology. She didn’t address the marginalized group she targeted. She didn’t acknowledge the harm she caused. And let me be clear: I believe in forgiveness. I don’t think people are irredeemable. I believe they can take accountability and make things right. But her immediate reaction wasn’t to do that. It wasn’t humility. Instead, she said, “Light conquers darkness.” Which — okay, maybe don’t use those words when responding to racist tweets.
This isn’t my fault. It wouldn’t have been anyone else’s fault who found these tweets, either. This is on her. It’s on the people running this campaign. And what’s truly insane is that, even now, she hasn’t explicitly apologized to the group she offended.
I can’t think of another marginalized group that could be targeted in this way, at this scale, without it sparking a serious conversation about whether a nomination should even stand. The Academy has to decide what kind of message it wants to send — because this level of racism should be disqualifying.
So, do you believe her Oscar nomination should be rescinded?
Absolutely! Especially in today’s climate. The same way they’re calling her film “important” or whatever vague terms are used. It’s just as important to show this is an example of what shouldn’t fly on a global stage. What message is that sending? Are you going to tout a movie around as being “important” and “historical” and then have the star of it play the vilest and racist things? This isn’t controversial; it’s blatant racism. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t have your “representation pick” show how progressive an institution is and then have no consequences for a person who is the opposite of that.
What would you say directly to Gascon?
Nothing. She’s just another racist.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
