Karla Sofía Gascón launches legal battle against French politician following Cannes victory
Karla Sofía Gascón, who won the ‘Best Actress’ prize at Cannes Film Festival, has filed a legal complaint against a French far-right politician over alleged hate speech against the transgender community.
Gascón is transgender, and stars in the new Jacques Audiard movie Emilia Pérez. At the Cannes Film Festival, the jury made the unusual decision to award all four of the film’s female stars with the ‘Best Actress’ prize with Gascón, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldana and Adriana Paz all victorious in France.
While this should have been a celebratory moment, Gascón was subject to online abuse, including from prominent French politician Marion Maréchal, she is a member of the Le Pen family and notably, her grandfather founded the National Front in France.
Maréchal, a member of the Reconquête party, said of Gascón’s victory at Cannes: “It is therefore a man who receives the prize for… female interpretation at Cannes. Progress for the left is the erasure of women and mothers.”
Following Maréchal’s comments, the LGBTQ+ groups Mousse, Stop Homophobie, Familles LGBT, Adheos, Quazar and Fédération LGBTQ+ came together to issue a complaint. Now, Gascón has got the authorities involved with the case, alleging that Maréchal made a “sexist insult due to one’s gender identity,” which is against French law.
If Maréchal is found guilty, she could face a potential maximum sentence of one-year behind bars and a €30,000 fine.
Before Maréchal made her remarks on social media, Gascón said in her victory speech at Cannes: “To every trans person suffering every fucking day with hate…This is for you. We all have the opportunity to change for the better, to be better people. If you have made us suffer, it is time for you also to change.”
Maréchal, who is standing in the European elections next month, commented on the complaints made by the LGBTQ+ groups during an interview with French radio station France Inter on May 28th, stating: “I’m not going to let myself be intimidated by legal threats from LGBT militant- activists… the truth is that being a man or a woman is a biological reality, whether you like it or not. The XX and XY chromosomes cannot be undone.”
Emilia Pérez, which won Gascón the prize at Cannes, follows a lawyer who helps a crime boss retire and transition into becoming a woman. The movie was also awarded the ‘Jury Prize’ and received a nomination for the ‘Palme d’Or’. It has since been purchased by Netflix, who will release the film later this year.
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