People Are Notttt Happy With Zoe Saldaña’s Response To A Mexican Journalist Telling Her That They Found “Emilia Pérez’s” Portrayal Of Mexico To Be “Really Hurtful”

At this point, it goes without saying that Emilia Pérez has been incredibly divisive — not least because of its leading star Karla Sofía Gascón’s racism controversy, but also because of its portrayal of Mexico. When it was released, many viewers expressed that they felt the musical grossly misrepresented the Mexican community, which is especially controversial considering the lack of Mexican people who worked on it.

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Notably, the film's director, Jacques Audiard, admitted amid the press tour that he didn't do much research on Mexico before shooting Emilia Pérez. Jacques is French, and he does not speak Spanish.

With this in mind, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Zoe was questioned about the film’s representation of Mexico shortly after she accepted her Oscar.

In the press room, a Mexican journalist pointed out to Zoe — who is Dominican and Puerto Rican — that there hasn’t been much conversation about Mexico amid the Emilia Pérez team throughout award season. “Less has been said about Mexico, which is the heart of [the film]…So what would you say about the heart of this movie, but also about the topic, [which] is really hurtful for us Mexicans?” the reporter asked.

Zoe replied, “First of all, I’m very, very sorry that you and so many Mexicans felt offended. That was never our intention. We spoke from a place of love, and I will stand by that. I don’t share your opinion. For me, the heart of this movie was not Mexico.”

“We weren’t making a film about a country. We were making a film about four women,” she said. “And 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.”

“And these women are still very universal women that are struggling every day, but trying to survive systemic oppression and trying to find the most authentic voices. So I will stand by that, but I’m also always open to sit down with all of my Mexican brothers and sisters, and with love and respect, [have] a great conversation on how Emilia could have been done better. I welcome it,” she added.

Several internet users were not impressed with Zoe’s response. One person tweeted, “Calling them her Mexican brothers and sisters after completely dismissing their feelings about the movie that won her an Oscar is wild,” while another said, “for a non mexican woman to get up here and tell an actual mexican citizen that they dont agree with how mexico feels about this film is a pretty disrespectful and disgusting response.”

“’ThE hEaRt WaSn’T a CoUnRtY’ okayyy so you just admitted you were profiting off a culture which NO ONE IM THE FILM knows anything about,” someone else wrote, while one more user echoed: “‘Mexico was not the heart of the film’ yet they chose the topic to be the gangs, kidnapping and violence against women issues happening in mexico, and chose to mimic mexican culture, and chose to set the film in MEXICO without any main crew member or set being from mexico ???”

Yiiiikes. LMK what you think of Zoe’s response in the comments. Meanwhile, you can check out more of our Oscars coverage here.