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Why has a man been nominated for Best Actress?

The Oscar nominations for Emilia Pérez are an affront to taste and common sense.

Lauren Smith

Topics Feminism

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Emilia Pérez – a bizarre musical about a transgender Mexican cartel leader – has been nominated for a whopping 13 Oscars. Not only is it the most-nominated film at this year’s Oscars – it has also bagged more nominations for a non-English-language film than any other in the history of the Academy Awards. This is a bad day for anyone with good taste.

Announced yesterday, the nominations for Emilia Pérez include Best Picture, Best Director for Jacques Audiard, Best Supporting Actress for Zoe Saldana and – most eyebrow-raising of all – Best Actress for Karla Sofía Gascón, who plays the titular trans gang leader, Emilia. This makes Gascón, who is biologically male, the first ever openly transgender actor to be nominated for an Oscar.

As I wrote on spiked last week, Emilia Pérez is not a good film. It does not deserve to be lavished with such high praise or accolades. And Gascón certainly doesn’t deserve to be in the running for Best Actress – for the simple reason that he is not an actress at all. Why should a man be nominated for an award that is intended for women?

The only reason the Academy is showering this woeful musical with nominations is because of its trans-focussed storyline. Emilia begins the film as Manitas, a ruthless drug lord who decides to fake his own death in order to transition into a woman, which also magically turns him into a social-justice activist.

Its most memorable song, ‘La Vaginoplastia’ is a painful, out-of-tune fever dream about the various procedures involved in gender-reassignment surgery.

Gascón’s acting and singing are fine, but he is still not an actress. He is a man who decided to start calling himself a woman. If he wins this Oscar, he will be depriving some incredibly talented, real women – such as Wicked’s Cynthia Erivo or The Substance’s Demi Moore – of the most prestigious awards of their careers.

The Academy’s fawning over Emilia Pérez is embarrassing enough. But its celebration of Gascón’s acting is a travesty. That a man can be even considered for Best Actress shows how far Hollywood has tumbled down the woke rabbit hole.

Lauren Smith is a staff writer at spiked.

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