Who is Sarah Hagi? Journalist reveals how she came across Karla Sofia Gascon’s controversial tweets

Karla Sofia Gascon, nominated for an Oscar for her role in Netflix's Emilia Pérez, is facing severe backlash online after old derogatory tweets resurfaced on January 30. Journalist Sarah Hagi took screenshots of the problematic tweets and created a thread criticizing the actress for her Islamophobic statements.

According to The Wrap, Sarah Hagi is a freelance journalist from Ottawa who attended Zaytuna College in Berkeley. She has worked for The Guardian, BuzzFeed, Taste Cooking, and others. Currently, she works as a journalist for Vulture and hosts the Scamfluencers podcast.

Gascon's tweets, dating from 2016 to 2023, reportedly contained multiple Islamophobic statements. The actress also shared her opinions on the 2020 murder of George Floyd and the COVID-19 vaccine and wrote about multiple celebrities.

The Spanish actress recently made headlines for being the first trans actress nominated for the Academy Awards. After Sarah Hagi's X thread went viral, Sofia Gascon deleted her X account and released a public apology. She said:

"I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt. As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well, and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life, I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness."

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What did Sarah Hagi say about Sofia Gascon's apology?

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In an interview with Variety on January 31, journalist Sarah Hagi revealed that she had no ulterior motives when she first searched for Sofia Gascon's old tweets. She claimed that she often conducts similar searches on celebrities and looked into Gascon after noticing the actress allegedly "dog whistling" in a post.

The term "dog whistle" refers to using politically suggestive language to garner support for a political party without provoking the opposition party. Hagi stated that as a Black Muslim, she could easily spot it.

"When you have an experience like I do, you know what the dog whistles are, and to me, that was a very clear dog whistle," she said.

Hagi told Variety that after noticing the dog whistle, she began searching for terms like Islam, Muslims, and hijab in Spanish, hoping to find any old statement Sofia Gascon may have made online. She expressed shock at the number of tweets she found, noting that the actress had no engagements on those tweets. She casually wrote Islamophobic things.

"She had tweeted these things, and they had existed online, unchallenged, from 2016 to 2023. There was no pushback, no visibility. This was just how she was casually tweeting. It wasn’t some deep dive or orchestrated effort — it was all just there."

Hagi denied rumors suggesting she was a "studio plant" hired to take down the actress. She clarified that anyone could have discovered the old tweets and that no studio would hire a journalist with no social media presence like her.

When asked about Sofia Gascon's apology, Hagi said she believes in forgiveness and that people can change. However, she stated that she could not accept Gascon's apology because she did not address the community she targeted in the past.

"Her apology wasn’t an apology. She didn’t address the marginalized group she targeted. She didn’t acknowledge the harm she caused."

Hagi further criticized Gascon's word choice as inappropriate. According to her, lines like "light conquers darkness" shouldn't be used while apologizing for racist remarks.

"She said, “Light conquers darkness.” Which — okay, maybe don’t use those words when responding to racist tweets."

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According to The Hollywood Reporter, Karla Sofia Gascon will star in the Spanish feature Las Malas, based on the novel Bad Girls by Camila Sosa Villada.