The film has received the most nominations at this year’s Oscars, with 13.
A Netflix chief has described the controversy surrounding the streaming giant’s feature film Emilia Perez as “a bummer” despite its success so far during this year’s awards season.
The Jacques Audiard-directed film, which stars the likes of Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez, has been marred in controversy as of late due to past social media posts from its main actor Karla Sofia Gascon.
Speaking on The Town With Matthew Belloni podcast, Netflix’s chief content officer Bela Bajaria said of the situation: “[I] think [it’s] really a bummer for 100 very incredibly talented people who made an amazing movie.
“And if you look at the nominations and all of this awards love that it’s received, I think it’s such a bummer that it’s distracted from that.
“It really has kind of taken the conversation in a different way, except for this incredible movie that Jacques Audiard – who is an incredible director – has made.
“And so to me, it really is a bummer for a lot of the people, like Zoe and Selena… and our awards team did an incredible campaign for that movie.”
Gascon, who became the first trans woman to be nominated for an Oscar for best actress, has since deleted offensive tweets she posted dating back to 2016.
In these posts, the Spanish actress made comments about Islam, calling for it to be banned.
She also posted offensive comments relating to diversity at the Oscars and the death of George Floyd.
The 52-year-old has since apologised for her comments saying: “As someone in a marginalised 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.”
Gascon has effectively removed herself from the film’s awards trail. She is not expected to attend Sunday’s BAFTA Awards.
Netflix’s Bajaria also spoke about the possibility of the streaming service vetting the social media profiles of actors that they hire saying it is “not really common practice for people to vet social tweets that way.”
She added that “people are re-evaluating that” adding it “raises questions.”
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