May 29
Cannes Best Actress Karla Sofía Gascón Sues French Politician Over Transphobia
Emell Adolphus READ TIME: 2 MIN.
"Emilia Pérez" breakout star Karla Sofía Gascón, one of this year's Cannes Best Actresses, is not wasting any time using her distinction to fight for equality and to put trolls in their place. (She shared the award with co-stars Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, and Zoe Saldaña in the acclaimed, empowering musical.)
As reported by Variety, Gascón just slapped a far-right politician with a lawsuit, alleging "sexist insult due to one's gender identity," over transphobic comments she made about her in a post on X.
Marion Marechal, who is currently campaigning in European elections for the far-right Reconquête party, attempted to discount Gascón's Cannes win by writing, "it is therefore a man who receives in Cannes the prize for... best actress. The progress for the left wing is the erasing of women and mothers."
In response, six LGBTQ groups filed a complaint against the politician on Monday for "transphobic insult," in addition to Gascón's lawsuit.
The lawyer representing Gascón and the LGBTQ organizations, Etienne Deshoulières, told Variety that the Best Actress took legal action to draw attention to his comments. If found guilty of transphobic insult, Marechal faces up to one-year imprisonment and a €30,000 fine, she faces a fine of €3,750 if charged with "sexist insult due to one's gender identity."
"You could tell from her speech that she had endured a lot of discrimination and she had predicted that her win would stir transphobic comments on social media today and tomorrow," said Deshoulières, who explained that he approached Gascón about filing a complaint after the LGBTQ organizations filed theirs.
In an acceptance speech for her Best Actress award, Gascón urged that all trans people "who suffer and must keep faith that changing is possible."
And she seems to be valiantly pushing that change forward.
