"She needs to immerse herself in Islamic history"- The Muslim Public Affairs Council addresses Karla Sofia Gascon's deleted tweets

The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) has fired back at Karla Sofia Gascon for her since-deleted tweets suggesting a Muslim ban in Europe. In a statement to The Wrap on Thursday, January 30, MPAC addressed the Emilia Pérez actress' resurfaced posts, calling them "hurtful, offensive, and shocking."

Per The Wrap, the social media posts in question (originally written in Spanish) alluded to Sofia Gascon supporting a ban on religions that "go against European values." Referring to the tweets, Sue Obeidi, the SVP for MPAC's Hollywood Bureau, said to the outlet:

"‘European values’? Does she mean the ones that led to the Holocaust? She needs to immerse herself in Islamic history. When Europe was in the dark age, Muslims were busy discovering math, science, and medical equipment. Learn, woman."

Per their website, MPAC is a national public affairs nonprofit organization that advocates for "American pluralism" by "increasing, understanding, and improving policies that impact American Muslims."

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Karla Sofia Gascon's controversy comes after she was nominated for Best Actress at the 2025 Oscars

In her deleted X posts, Sofia Gascon questioned if the number of Muslim residents in Spain was consistently increasing. She alleged that every time she went to pick up her daughter from school, she saw more women with their hair covered and "skirts down to their heels." Per The Wrap, Sofia Gascon also remarked (translated quote):

"Maybe next year instead of English we’ll have to teach Arabic."

In a separate tweet, Karla Sofia Gascon called for a ban on any religion that violated human rights under the protection of freedom of worship, naming Islam as an example. Per the outlet, she added:

"Faith manipulates those who cling to faith."

Calling out Gascon's comments, the MPAC told The Wrap:

"Deleted or not, these tweets are hurtful, offensive, and shocking, most especially coming from someone who is a member of another vulnerable community. Muslims are part of every community, including the transgender community."

Karla Sofía Gascon is nominated for Best Actress at the 2025 Oscars for her work on Emilia Pérez. In light of her campaign, she apologized for her offensive posts and deactivated her account on the platform, as per Deadline on January 31.

The actress previously came under fire for her remarks after the death of George Floyd in 2020. For the unversed, Floyd was a Black man who was murdered by a White police officer, who pressed his knee to Floyd's neck while arresting him.

According to Deadline, at the time, Sofia Gascon took to Twitter (now X) to state that Floyd was a "drug addict swindler," who only a few cared about. She claimed that the controversy surrounding his death demonstrated that, "there are people who still consider Black people to be monkeys without rights and consider policemen to be assassins" (as translated).

Per the publication, Sofia Gascon also used slurs against LGBTQ+ individuals. Furthermore, in 2021, she criticized the Academy Awards for its diversity efforts, calling it "a ceremony for independent and protest films." She added:

"I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala."

Recently, she faced backlash for her X posts (last week) about fellow Best Actress nominee, Fernanda Torres. The actress claimed fans and colleagues of Torres were working to tear down Emilia Pérez and Gascon’s Oscar chances.

Her comments raised questions about whether she violated the Academy’s rules about nominees belittling other contenders. Eventually, the Academy determined she didn't violate any rules.

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Karla Sofia Gascon has not publicly reacted to the MPAC's statement yet.