Eugenio Derbez, the 63-year-old star of Acapulco and a man who has apparently never met a microphone he didn’t like, has hit the apology trail after throwing some shade at Selena Gomez’s Spanish skills in her latest movie Emilia Pérez.
ICYMI, Eugenio had recently hopped on the Hablando de Cine podcast and decided to critique Selena’s performance with all the subtlety of a toddler banging pots together. “They don’t speak Spanish,” he said, referring to Selena and others like her. He then compared it to watching a Russian or German film with subtitles and hinted that her delivery lacked… authenticity. (Ouch. Someone grab the aloe!)
Enter Selena Gomez, the 32-year-old pop queen, actress, and unbothered icon who somehow manages to juggle TV, movies, music, and lip-sync battles on TikTok. She caught wind of Eugenio’s spicy commentary and responded with a classic “I hear you, but also I did my best, so whatever” kind of vibe.
But clearly, Eugenio’s conscience (or his PR team) wasn’t going to let him sleep at night. Fast forward to his TikTok mea culpa, where he served up a heartfelt helping of humble pie.
“Dear Selena,” he began, in what can only be described as the written equivalent of showing up at someone’s door with flowers and a boom box. “I truly apologize for my careless comments—they are indefensible and go against everything I stand for.” (Plot twist: Turns out, Eugenio stands for not dragging fellow Latinos.)
He continued, “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.” (Translation: “Please don’t hate me, Selena. I love Rare Beauty blushes.”)
Then came the pièce de résistance: “Emilia Pérez deserves to be celebrated, not diminished by my thoughtless remarks. I’m walking away from this with an important lesson learned.” (Spoiler alert: The lesson is “Think before you speak.”)
Eugenio wrapped it up with the kind of groveling you only see in rom-coms and reality TV finales: “While I understand if you cannot accept my apology, please know it comes from the heart. With all my love and admiration, Eugenio Derbez.”
No word yet on whether Selena has officially accepted the apology, but judging by her chill response to the original drama, she’s probably already moved on to bigger things—like deciding what emoji to post next on TikTok or topping the Billboard charts again.
As for Eugenio, here’s hoping his next podcast appearance is less “critique” and more “compliment sandwich.” Lesson learned, buddy.
