Selena Gomez fires back after harsh criticism of Emilia Pérez performance

Selena Gomez (l.) has defended herself after receiving some harsh criticism from Eugenio Derbez over her role in the buzzy musical movie Emilia Pérez.  © Collage: MICHAEL TRAN / AFP & MATT WINKELMEYER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP

In a recent podcast appearance, Mexican actor Eugenio Derbez and host Gaby Meza criticized Gomez's performance – specifically, her Spanish.

Meza blamed the 32-year-old star's lack of familiarity with the language, per The Hollywood Reporter.

"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," she said.

Derbez backed the critique and added, "I'm glad you're saying that because I was saying, 'I can’t believe no one is talking about it?'"

Though the pair said Gomez was "talented," Derbez continued on to argue that the film also suffered due to the fact that French director Jacques Audiard also didn't speak Spanish.

"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,'" the CODA star added. "It's like if I wanted to make a film in Russian without knowing the culture or Russian and speaking in French."

Gomez caught wind of the comments and defended her performance, writing on TikTok that she "did the best I could."

Selena Gomez responded to the viral criticism with a TikTok comment.  © Screenshot/TikTok/@elviborero

"I understand where you are coming from," the Single Soon artist wrote under a snippet of the podcast shared to TikTok.

"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."

Despite the critiques, Gomez's performance has been faring well on the awards circuit so far.

She shared the Cannes Best Actress award with her co-stars Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, and Adriana Paz upon Emilia Pérez's debut at the festival this summer, and on Monday, Gomez received a Golden Globe nod for her role.

Derbez has since apologized for his remarks in a statement on TikTok, calling his critique "careless" and "indefensible."