Eugenio Derbez apologises to Selena Gomez after he criticised her Emilia Perez performance

Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez has apologised after he criticised Selena Gomez for her performance in the Oscar contender Emilia Perez.

Derbez, who has also been in English-language films Overboard, Jack and Jill and CODA, kicked off a storm when he appeared on the Hablando de Cine podcast and called Gomez’s role “indefensible”.

He said, “I (watched the film) with people, and every time she had a scene, we looked at each other to say to each other, ‘Wow, what is this?’.”

Derbez and podcast host Gaby Meza pointed out that Gomez does not speak fluent Spanish. Emilia Perez is set in Mexico and predominantly in Spanish.

Meza explained, “That’s why I feel she doesn’t know what she is saying, and if she doesn’t know what she’s saying, she can’t give her acting any nuance. That is why her performance is not only unconvincing but uncomfortable.”

Derbez had jumped in and agreed, and added, “I can’t believe no one is talking about it”.

After a clip from the podcast was shared to social media, Gomez responded, “I understand where you are coming from… 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.”

Gomez has Mexican heritage through her father.

She also admonished Derbez for, “do not ever say my fans are the problem standing, as you say, for me”. Gomez has a very active, vociferous fanbase.

It was a big mea culpa moment for Derbez, who within hours, posted to social media, “I truly apologise for my careless comments — they are indefensible and go against everything I stand for.

“As Latinos, we should always support one another. There’s no excuse. I was wrong, and I deeply admire your career and your kind heart.

“Emilia Perez deserves to be celebrated, not diminished by my thoughtless remarks. I’m walking away from this with an important lesson learned. While I understand if you cannot accept my apology, please know it comes from the heart.”

Emilia Perez is a musical which tells the story of a drug cartel crime lord who fakes their death and transitions to become a woman. The title character is played by Spanish actor Karla Sofia Gascon, who is transgender, while Zoe Saldana plays the lawyer-turned-friend who sets everything up.

Gomez portrays the cartel leader’s wife who believed her husband was killed.

Despite its Mexican setting and Spanish dialogue, the film is classified as French. Its writer and director, Jacques Audiard, is French, as was most of the movie’s financing. None of its main producers are Mexican.

Derbez had also, in that initial spray, pointed out its French director Audiard speaks neither Spanish nor English (there is a smattering of English in the film).

“But I was saying, ‘How strange because if 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 wanted to make a film in Russian without the culture or Russian, and speaking in French.”

Emilia Perez is considered a strong contender in the awards season races with the film potentially up for best picture, best actress for Gascon and best supporting actress for Saldana at the Oscars.

Gascon, Saldana, Gomez and Adriana Paz were jointly awarded the best actress gong at the Cannes Film Festival where Emilia Perez premiered in May.