Selena Gomez fires back at actor after he criticizes her ‘indefensible’ Spanish in new film

Eugenio Derbez didn’t have anything good to say about the actress’ performance

Selena Gomez has addressed a fellow actor’s comments about her Emilia Perez performance.

Emilia Perez was arguably one of the most anticipated movies of the year and dropped on Netflix on November 13.

The Spanish-language movie boasts an all-star cast with Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldana, and Édgar Ramírez all featuring.

Gomez has Mexican heritage and can speak Spanish – although not fluently.

She’s said to have grown up speaking the language but fell out of practice when she moved to California as a child.

With her not being fluent in Spanish, Gomez said that it ‘meant the world to [her]’ that the director of the film, Jacques Audiard, trusted her with the role.

“I had coaches and we communicated every day in Spanish,” she explained to extratv.

“My dad was so proud. He was like ‘you’re texting me mija’, and I’m like ‘yeah, I’m texting you in Spanish’.”

While Gomez evidently put in the work to improve her Spanish before starring in Emilia Perez, it wasn’t particularly well received by some – Koda actor Eugenio Derbez in particular.

Eugenio Derbez has criticized Selena Gomez's Spanish abilities (Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)

Eugenio Derbez has criticized Selena Gomez’s Spanish abilities (Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images)

Speaking on the Hablando de Cine podcast, the Mexican actor said of Gomez: “Selena is indefensible. I [watched the movie] with people, and every time she had a scene, we looked at each other to say to each other, ‘Wow, what is this?'”

Podcast host Gaby Meza went on to label the Only Murders in the Building star as a ‘very talentred actress’, but agreed that her Spanish wasn’t great.

“Spanish is not her main language, not her secondary or fifth language,” she said, as per Deadline.

“And that’s why I feel like she doesn’t know what she’s saying. If she doesn’t know what she’s saying, she can’t give her acting any nuance.”

In the wake of their remarks, Gomez has now responded.

Replying to a TikTok video of the interview, Gomez penned: “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.”

Selena has responded to their comments about her performance (TikTok)

And this isn’t the only issue people have had with Gomez’s acting in Emilia Perez; others said that the 32-year-old made a ‘crucial mistake’ in it.

Gomez seemed to have an Office-like moment in the film where she locked eyes with the camera, something some people suggested she wasn’t supposed to do and that she ‘broke the fourth wall’.

However, a different person defended her and said: “I am thinking this was intentional, because multiple characters do this throughout the movie.”