Zoe Saldaña left the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday with an award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Emilia Pérez. But despite the win, her response to a reporter who asked about the reception of the movie by Mexican audiences outraged social media users after they found it to be ‘tone deaf’.
Saldaña gave an emotional speech
The 46-year-old actress gave an emotional acceptance speech as she accepted the award for Best Supporting Actress, saying that she is a “proud child of immigrant parents.”
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“I am the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award, and I know I will not be the last,” Saldaña said as she stood on the stage.
She shortly had to apologize to Mexican viewers
As Saldaña was talking to reporters about her role in Emilia Pérez, one reporter asked about her response to Mexican viewers’ feelings toward the movie which they felt was a “really hurtful” portrayal of Mexico.
The reporter asked, “What would you say about the heart of this movie, but also the topic [that] is really hurtful for us Mexicans?”
The actress said she was sorry for it
“I’m very, very sorry that you and so many Mexicans felt offended,” was Saldaña’s response to the reporter, before she added, “that was never our intention. We spoke and we came from a place of love and I will stand by that.”
While the reporter called Mexico the ‘heart’ of the movie, Saldaña disagreed with the statement.
Saldaña said the movie was about women, not Mexico
“We weren’t making a film about a country,” Saldaña said as she responded to the reporter, “We were making a film about four women.”
The actress said the movie had characters who were “very universal women” struggling to navigate the system, and that such people could be found anywhere in the world, not just in Mexico.
She is open to sitting down with viewers
“These women could have been Russian, could have been Dominican, could have been Black from Detroit, could have been from Israel, could have been from Gaza,” the actress added.
Saldaña followed her response by stating that she is open to having a chat with “all of [her] Mexican brothers and sisters” about how they feel regarding the movie.
Social media users didn’t like her response
A lot of social media users didn’t like Saldaña’s response to the reporter.
One person wrote, “Its a very tone deaf apology, the disappearance in Mexico is an actual issue down there. Its part of the movie. To downplay it by saying it could take place in Detroit, Israel, Gaza is very asinine.”
Some didn’t feel it was right
A lot of users didn’t think she picked her words correctly. “Oh so um maybe not the right thing to say to a bunch of angry latinos but ok,” one social media user wrote.
Another also said, “This is not even an apology, it’s a ‘sorry you feel that way but you are wrong.’”
Another person found her response ‘ridiculous’
A translated comment read, “She already won her Oscar and that’s enough for her, ridiculous old woman with her whining.”
Another also responded to Saldaña’s take on the setting of the movie, asking, “Then why would you go and pick a culture you’re not familiar with if it’s not really relevant for your story? Why making it difficult for yourself to build sets, to translate dialogues and songs, to do all this work if the movie would be the same?”
Saldaña plays a lawyer in the movie
Emilia Pérez is a musical drama about a Mexican cartel kingpin (played by Karla Sofía Gascón) who hires a lawyer (played by Saldaña) to help her undergo gender-affirming surgery, and later calls the lawyer back for further help with her work.
The movie was directed by French director Jacques Audiard, who told a reporter that he “didn’t study much” for the movie. “I kinda already knew what I had to understand.”
Last Updated on March 5, 2025 by Nour Morsy
