Selena Gomez has spoken out to defend herself amid the 'Emilia Pérez' criticism
Selena Gomez has been front and centre in 2024, and from the return of her fan favourite show Only Murders in the Building, to her sweet relationship with Benny Blanco, the 32-year-old has made non stop headlines.
It is her new project Emilia Pérez that has made the most news, with Gomez starring alongside Karla Sofía Gascón and Zoe Saldana in the critically acclaimed musical drama.
The 2024 film follows a Mexican cartel boss retire, and transition into living as a woman, becoming Emilia Pérez with the help of young lawyer Rita Mora Castro.
And based on 2018 novel Écoute by Boris Razon, the Jacques Audiard film has been well received - earning an 11-minute standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival, and even tipped for the 2025 Oscars.
Gomez stars in Emilia Pérez as Pérez's partner, Jessi Del Monte - speaking in Spanish for her role.
This, however, sparked controversy this week, as Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez criticised her performance - claiming that due to Gomez's limited Spanish, he didn't believe her lines.
"Selena is indefensible," the 63-year-old said of the 2024 film, during his recent appearance on the 'Hablando de Cine' podcast.
"I [watched Emilia Pérez] with people, and every time she had a scene, we looked at each other to say to each other, ‘Wow, what is this?’ I feel like they don’t speak Spanish.
"I liked the film, aside from the Selena [scenes] that jump at you, because it has salvageable things,” Derbez continued, going on to talk about Jacques Audiard.
"But I told myself, ‘How weird that the director doesn’t speak English or Spanish and the movie is in Spanish and English, and it takes place in Mexico and you don’t understand the culture.’ It’s like if I made a film in Russian without knowing the culture or speaking Russian and talk in French.”
Derbez's comments unsurprisingly went viral, with Selena Gomez even speaking out to publicly respond.
"I understand where you are coming from," Gomez stated. "I’m sorry I did the best I could with the time I was given. Doesn’t take away from how much work and heart I put into this movie."
Emilia Pérez is available to watch on Netflix now.
