🎭 This Week in Spain: Oscars Got Spain Drama

Also: the Benidorm Fest winner, Jenni Hermoso takes the stand and Ayuso claims Sánchez wants to kill her (politically, that is).

Feb 06, 2025

By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | February 6, 2025 | Madrid | Issue #88

🎉 Welcome to The Tapa, an English-language, weekly newsletter about all things Spain!

🥜 This Week in a Nutshell: Isn’t it nice to focus on pop culture instead of politics for a change? The news surrounding controversial Academy Award nominee Karla Sofía Gascón has been sucking most of the air this week. Is PM Sánchez still dealing with multiple headaches? Yes. But those tweets from Gascón, amirite? Now that’s the kind of salseo we like.

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The internet never forgets

🎻 Spain’s Oscar-Nominated Actress Karla Sofía Gascón Said Some Not Nice Things

Spanish actress Karla Sofía Gascón made history last year with her critically acclaimed performance in the genre-bending musical drama Emilia Pérez. While the movie itself is surrounded by controversy (some people don’t seem to like a song about a vaginoplasty or a supporting actresses’ Spanish pronunciation), at least the critics love it.

What’s it about? The plot revolves around a Mexican cartel boss who undergoes gender transition surgery while on the run and decides to seek redemption by campaigning for the missing victims of the drug war. It’s a story we can all identify with, we guess. (Gascón, who is trans, plays the cartel boss.)
The film also stars Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gómez, and is directed by French director Jacques Audiard, who is dealing with his own controversies for a few inconvenient statements (some of them taken out of context on TikTok), but that’s a whole different can of worms and we’re staying away from it.
Emilia Pérez received an impressive 13 Oscar nominations, making it the most nominated film this year. They include Best Movie, Best Director, Best Actress (Gascón) and Best Supporting Actress (Saldaña). This is a big deal, as Gascón is the first trans actress to be nominated in this category.

So why the drama? Things were going great until a few weeks ago when a journalist discovered a series of, ahem, “problematic” tweets made by Gascón between 2019 and 2021, in which she made racist comments about George Floyd (whose death supercharged the Black Lives Matter movement), made Islamophobic statements and criticized the Oscars for having too much diversity.

Short version. She called Floyd “a drug addict swindler”, criticized the use of the burka (and complained about "seeing more Muslims in Spain”).
So many colors! She also said the Academy Awards were looking like “a ceremony for independent and protest films,” and she didn’t know if she was “watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M”. Yikes.
This one real? On top of that, another tweet surfaced in which she referred to her costar Selena Gómez as a “rich rat”—but she says that’s “completely fabricated”.

Damage control. The backlash was immediate and Gascón now finds herself at the center of a global debate about identity politics and cancel culture.

‘Deeply sorry.’ Gascón issued a statement last Thursday via Netflix (where her film can be streamed), saying that she was “deeply sorry to those she had caused pain”. A day later, she apologized and announced she was deactivating her Twitter/X account as “she could no longer allow this campaign of hate and misinformation to affect either her family or her anymore”. (But is it misinformation if she said it?)
My Oscar! She appeared in an emotional interview on Sunday with CNN En Español, in which she said she was not a racist and would not give up her nomination because she had “not committed any crime.”

Too late, maybe? But the damage was already done (apparently Netflix forgot to check her Twitter history). In the last few days, many of those involved in the movie have slowly but decidedly distanced themselves from Gascón, leaving her increasingly isolated.

Karla who? The Hollywood Reporter announced that Netflix was removing her from all Emilia Pérez promotional material and would no longer support her participation in awards campaign events (as in they won’t pay for her travel or hotel for upcoming ceremonies).
Even the director? Yup. The director also dropped her by saying she was “in a self-destructive approach that he couldn’t interfere in” and didn’t want to talk to her.

And what about Spain? People in Spain’s entertainment industry haven’t exactly come out en masse to defend her. Quite the contrary. Especially since here she also appeared to diss Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and former Equality Minister Irene Montero.

Ouch! Local TV writer and actor Bob Pop, who is gay, said “right now, Gascón is a Vox lady”, adding that “it’s as if she had asked artificial intelligence to give her the worst possible apology.”
Pols weigh in because they do. Second Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Díaz said that she felt “extraordinarily happy” after hearing about Gascon’s nomination, but her opinion changed after learning about the tweets, which made her “deeply upset” 😭. Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun added that her tweets “do not represent Spanish society”.

And in the far corner… There were (a few) others who said that despite the controversy, she still deserved a chance at the Oscars.

In Karla’s corner (sorta). Writer Sergio del Molino wrote in El País that she still deserves to win because it had nothing to do with her performance. Journalist Manuel Jabois said on Cadena SER that, even though her tweets are cruel and racist, “anyone who doesn’t feel a bit of pity (for her) has a problem”.

More news below. 👇👇

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💬 Five things to discuss at dinner parties this week

1. 🧑‍⚖️ Judge steals show in Rubiales Kiss Trial

The Kiss Heard Around the World. Remember it? We’re talking about the massive on-mouth beso that Luis Rubiales, the (now former) president of Spain’s soccer federation, planted on national team player Jenni Hermoso at the awards ceremony at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia, just after Spain won the tournament. Which ended up overshadowing the victory and getting Rubiales fired and then charged with sexual assault and trying to coerce Hermoso — with help from three other men — to declare that the kiss was consensual. Considering he’s now facing an up to 2½ year sentence, what a not-great idea that kiss turned out to be, right?

This week Rubiales’s trial opened in Madrid, and it’s been the dumpster fire you’d expect. Hermoso testified that the kiss was not consensual, that “The next thing [Rubiales] did was to grab me by the ears and kiss me on the mouth,” and that, “It was a moment that tainted one of the happiest days of my life.”

Lovely all around. Oh, and Hermoso’s brother Rafael testified that (now former) team coach Jorge Vilda, who is also on trial, told him (prepare the mafia vibe) that ”we should take into account both the personal and professional consequences that my sister could suffer.” Not a threat at all!

Such a downer! In moments like these, that put the ugh in ugly, we look for some amusing supporting characters. And thank Baby Jesus we got one in this case: Judge José Manuel Fernández-Prieto has a career on TV once this is done (check the video above if you don’t believe us).

Big on the justice comedy ciscuit! According to his peers, Fernández-Prieto has a great sense of humor and is used to being in front of the cameras. You may remember him for imposing a €720 fine on a Twitter user who called King Philip VI a “son of a bitch,” for an offense outlined and punishable under Article 491.1.
Order! But in this trial, he seems exasperated by pretty much everyone. “Enough of this! Don’t be cocky!” he screams. “You’re hear to talk about what they ask you! You don’t choose what to talk about! You’re here as a witness to answer what they ask you!” he yells. “My patience is getting to its limit!” Watch it.

2. 😡 Ayuso: Sánchez wants to kill me (don’t worry—just politically)

Madrid regional governor Isabel Díaz Ayuso has a barbed tongue and knows how to make exciting TV, especially when she’s angry. And boy, was she angry Monday. That’s when she took the opportunity of an appearance on the premiere of right-leaning TV personality Ana Rosa Quintana’s return to the mornings on Telecinco—with El programa de Ana Rosa—to unleash an epic screed against her biggest political enemy: PM Pedro Sánchez.

Seriously, when we say “epic”, we mean it. Let us count the ways!

Dude’s spying on me. Ayuso said her Whatsapp conversations with Sánchez had disappeared and suggested that his government had used some nefarious software to break into her phone.
And not only hers. She also suggested that phones and computers holding incriminating evidence in investigations into Sánchez allies, like Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz and First Lady Begoña Gómez, had been wiped or stolen: “Things are stolen, evidence is lost. What might they be using from Moncloa to erase evidence? I don't know if they have tapped my cell phone.”
He’s killing Madrid! Ayuso went on to accuse Sánchez of trying to harm her by taking actions to “destroy” Madrid’s economy, for example by ending Golden Visas or cutting power and water to data centers (⁉️).
And he wants to kill me! "If any citizen puts themselves in my place, they will understand what it means for the president of the Government to openly say that he is going to kill you, that he wants to finish you off. He wants to destroy me."

Insert record scratch sound here. Ayuso, like, said the prime minister wants to kill her? Like, seriously? Well, it turns out the answer to that is no, not really—she meant “politically”, one of Ayuso’s team later clarified—but, still, a bit cray-cray.

Context alert! Ayuso does like to insinuate and exaggerate, this much is true. But she had a reason to feel slightly raw: Sánchez and his regional Madrid socialists held a rally this weekend in Madrid to coronate their new leader, Óscar López (who’s also Sánchez’s Minister for Digital Transformation). And who was the big target of the entire congress? You got it: Isabel Díaz Ayuso.
That video. Specifically, the PSOE event played a two-minute video that mixed images of Ayuso with Argentine President Milei, Brazilian ex-President Bolsonaro (and his rioting supporters); the Jan. 6 capital riot; Hungarian boss Orbán, Italy’s Meloni; Elon Musk doing his not-a-nazi-salute; and neo-nazis—LOTS of neo-nazis. Did we mention neo-nazis?

Get it? Ayuso is a dangerous neo-nazi homophobe who wants to hold a coup and end democracy. Now, we have our disagreements with some Ayuso policies, but we can vouch that she’s far from a nazi. So maybe that got her a little pissed off?

Can’t wait to see them face off for PM in 2027!

3. 😭 Sánchez must be getting tired of his bro

Pedro Sánchez’s second career—as the lonely standard-bearer of Europe’s anti-Trump left—looked downright promising at first.

🎙️1️⃣ Musk bad man! Back in early January (remember those halcyon days?), he went after Tesla’s own Tony Stark wannabe, calling him the head of an "international far-right movement” who "stirs up hatred” and “openly calls for support of the heirs of Nazism in Germany.” Good start, Pedro!
🎙️2️⃣ Techbro bashing! Then he made a Big Speech at Davos to slam the “techo-caste” of billionaires and demanded new regulations for their (increasingly fecal) social media networks. And on Trump’s inauguration day, he slammed them again in Madrid.
🎙️3️⃣ No more broligarchy! Yesterday he was at it once more at the presentation of the new (and kinda Orwellian named) Observatory of Digital Rights—which is about preserving digital rights or something.
- All for the money 🤑. There, he took his critique deeper: “They do everything for the money, it has always been all about the money. Now we see a ruthless race in which the techno-caste combines with authoritarian powers that fight a battle without rules,” he said. “That is why we see that the new Chinese AI has eliminated criticism of the government of that country. Or that the main AI company in the U.S. questions Biden’s victory in 2020 when it’s asked. Or that the most famous provider of geolocation [Google Maps] is eliminating the name of the Gulf of Mexico to ingratiate itself with power. They want intelligence without dissent. Faced with this reality, we have to rebel.”

Right on, brother! Or, maybe not. Well, it was a nice try at least. Within hours of Sanchez’s speech, his name was back in the news for the reason he was trying to get people to ignore by screaming “tech bros” and “international far-right” repeatedly. Yes, that’s right, those pesky court cases.

So what happened this time? His brother David Sánchez (aka David Azagra) on Tuesday quit that supposedly “fake” job for which he is being investigated. Remember, a court is trying to determine whether the Badajoz Provincial Council irregularly created a tailor-made position for him in 2017 because he’s Brother-Of-Pedro, when it named him head of the music conservatories in the Department of Culture. To be fair, he is a musician. To be less fair, he apparently hasn’t done a lotta work, and last week the judge on his case called the job he was hired for “unnecessary”. And now, to make matters look worse, it seems he quit just after a call for proposals to produce the Ópera Joven program that he organized had closed and no one had made a bid. 🤦

But it gets worse? Yes, more bad court news for Pedro just when he was achieving exit velocity as Europe’s Right On Dude.

Caso Begoña. An adviser to Sánchez’s wife Begoña Gómez was named as a person of interest in the hard-to-explain and probably small-potatoes influence trafficking case Gómez faces.
Caso Koldo. A series of Whatsapp messages published in El Confidential this week showed Sánchez’s Minister of Territorial Policy Ángel Víctor Torres was more caught up than previously known with Koldo García, the government advisor who was arrested for allegedly taking bribes on millions in COVID-era surgical mask sales he arranged to the Canary Islands government (among others)—where Torres was governor at the time.

We know we’ve said it before, but… Tough week, Pedro!

4. 🎤 Melody wins Benidorm Fest, heads for Eurovision mediocrity

Chances are you don’t know who Melody is and that’s OK, but if you want the tl;dr version, here it is:

Melody is a 35-year-old pop singer from Sevilla who has been performing for 25 years. Yup. In fact, her breakout song “El baile del Gorila” (released when she was 10) became an international hit and topped the charts in over 15 countries.
Steady but not…huge. She has since then maintained a steady musical career, releasing six albums and connecting with audiences across generations.
Don’t forget me! Now she’s back with a new song, Esa Diva (see video above), an anthem promoting equality and inclusion that became the (somewhat expected) winner of this year’s Benidorm Fest, although not everyone is happy with her representing Spain in Basel this May.

Well, if it’s tradition… By now, it is almost tradition to complain about whoever we’re sending to Eurovision. “We don’t ever pick someone who’s going to win”, people say. And while we have yet to see how Melody performs in a few months, this year it’s actually the Benidorm Fest itself that is being panned by critics due to the overall (bad) quality of the performers.

We know! Look, we are aware that it’s really hard to sing live while you’re dancing and doing backflips. But considering that being able to carry a tune is a must in order to win Eurovision, it may be time to review the contestants’ selection process because this year it was… not great.

Shallow art. Culture columnist Carlos Marcos wrote on El País that this year’s edition had “notably low quality” and the contestants lacked “originality and authenticity”. It also lacked “artistic depth”.
Mean. TV presenter Jorge Javier Vázquez said it’s incomprehensible that after a year of preparation, “the organization has not managed to assemble a more competitive list of candidates”. Ouch
The socials. People on social media didn’t mince words to describe this year’s edition. From “horrible” to “a disaster”, many seemed to agree that the overall performances were disappointing.

Take a look. Watch J Kbello’s V.I.P., a dance track blending funk, electronic, and U.K. garage elements that, despite being one of the favorites to win, really failed to impress. Then there’s Carla Frigo’s Besame which is… well, you be the judge.

Thank God we’ve still got TI. Fortunately for, well, everyone, Benidorm Fest is in the rearview mirror and we’re all distracted by a new pop culture moment involving one of the contestants in the reality show Temptation Island, whose live reaction as he watches his girlfriend fall into temptation with another man is Oscar-worthy. Enjoy.

5.🙄 I moved to Spain and all I got was seafood and fries

We fail to understand why the media chooses to publish stories like these—unless, of course, the intent is to incite public scorn toward the individuals at their center. We are talking about those articles that tell the heartbreaking story of an individual (usually an “expat”) who moves to a foreign country and fails to integrate into the local culture because the Starbucks down the street doesn’t have kale syrup or something.

This week two of these real-life cautionary tales made the rounds on social media as they were shared by the media, foreigners and locals alike. The first, published on CNN Travel, describes the tragedy surrounding an American woman from Florida and her husband who moved to Spain (Europe’s Florida!) and very soon regretted it so they decided to move back.

Cristina Martinez relocated to Spain in 2022, seeking “new experiences” and a change of environment. (We’re not sure Santander, which she chose, would be the best place for that but who are we to judge).
Cristina was fluent in Spanish (great!) but she felt that Spain had a “closed culture” (not great), as social interactions felt less open and welcoming. On top of that, she got “really tired and grossed out with the food” because it was all seafood and there was no variety. And by “Spanish food” she means… french fries.
Oh, she also struggled with the cold, humid, and windy conditions in the winter. (Because, north?) “I just couldn’t take six months or five months of bad weather,” she tells CNN. “Sometimes it just rains five days out of the week. It rains day and night…”. Well… yes, because you moved to freaking Santander! That’s like us moving to Oklahoma and claiming life in the U.S. is hard because… tornadoes.
The summer was worse because she didn’t have home air conditioning. Damn you, Santander! And to make things worse, she couldn’t get used to the fact we enjoy lunch and dinner at a later time here.

And that’s not it. There’s more.

Yes, she considered moving south (maybe Andalucia) but decided against it because of squatters. (Not that Spain doesn’t have a squatters problem but… come on).
And then, of course, there’s the siesta: “The other thing that really bothered me there… (was) their way of living and their way of doing things”. (Again… apparently she did no research). “All of their businesses and restaurants, for the most part, close at three or four o’clock in the afternoon”.

Look, we could go on but you get the picture. And we’re sure she means well. But poor Cristina got no love on social media as people on Twitter, Threads, TikTok and Bluesky accused her of being a “Karen” who failed to do “basic research” (which is a fair point).

The second one, published on GBN about a man named Alastair Johnson who moved to Spain nine years ago, is much more relatable. As in, he pretty much says that yes, moving to a different country isn’t always easy, but he loves it here and has made great progress by learning the language.

His complaints are a) the bureaucracy (which can sometimes be maddening here) and b) not getting the jokes in Spanish (to be honest, sometimes we don’t get the jokes).

Good for you, Alastair!

Are these articles written to prevent an exodus and discourage people from moving to Spain, the land of ~~low salaries~~ eternal sunshine, tapas and great health care? We don’t know. But some of them can be unintentionally hilarious.

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