Madonna defends supporting Karla Sofía Gascón amid controversy

Madonna has defended her decision to support Karla Sofía Gascón amid her recent controversy.

The pop icon came under fire from her fans this week after the controversial Emilia Pérez star thanked Madonna for offering her support after past offensive tweets resurfaced in January.

Seemingly defending her position, Madonna slammed America’s “lynch mob mentality” on Instagram and appeared to reference the backlash trans actress Gascón has faced since her past tweets began circulating.

“It breaks my heart to witness the pain of Trans-people who are not accepted by a society that fears them because they are different,” the Like a Prayer hitmaker wrote on her Stories. “How can we know what it feels like? Have we walked in their shoes?”

“The lynch mob mentality in this country is at an all-time high,” she continued. “The excitement people get from watching people go down or be silenced, be blacklisted is disturbing.”

Madonna went on to encourage her fans to lift others up rather than tear them down.

“The enjoyment we get from other people’s pain is a sin,” she insisted. “Humanity should put more time and effort into lifting people up and supporting anyone who is striving to be the better version of themselves!”

The Material Girl singer also reshared Gascón’s post from earlier this week in which she thanked the pop star for her “words of love and strength” and for inviting her to an Oscars afterparty on Sunday.

Gascón dropped out of the film’s awards campaign despite being a Best Actress Oscar nominee after coming under fire for tweets that were seen as racist and Islamophobic. After skipping several awards shows, she made her comeback at the Oscars, although she did not walk the red carpet.