Building kernel on Linux problem: unrecognised emulation mode: elf_i386

I am following the tutorial from https://github.com/chipsetx/Simple-Kernel-in-C-and-Assembly. I am building it on macOS 12.4 using virtualised Ubuntu. I cannot get the kernel to compile and receive the unrecognised emulation mode: elf_i386 error. GCC command does not work with -m32 option, but runs after I remove it. The commands that I used are at the bottom of this post. Thanks for help.

kernel.asm

;;kernel.asm
bits 32     ;nasm directive
section .text
    ;multiboot spec
    align 4
    dd 0x1BADB002           ;magic
    dd 0x00             ;flags
    dd - (0x1BADB002 + 0x00)    ;checksum. m+f+c should be zero

global start
extern kmain    ;kmain is defined in the c file

start:
    cli ;block interrupts
    call kmain
    hlt ;halt the CPU

kernel.c

#define WHITE_TXT 0x07 /* light gray on black text */

void k_clear_screen();
unsigned int k_printf(char *message, unsigned int line);

/* simple kernel written in C */
void k_main() 
{
    k_clear_screen();
    k_printf("Hello, world! Welcome to my kernel.", 0);
};

/* k_clear_screen : to clear the entire text screen */
void k_clear_screen()
{
    char *vidmem = (char *) 0xb8000;
    unsigned int i=0;
    while(i < (80*25*2))
    {
        vidmem[i]=' ';
        i++;
        vidmem[i]=WHITE_TXT;
        i++;
    };
};

/* k_printf : the message and the line # */
unsigned int k_printf(char *message, unsigned int line)
{
    char *vidmem = (char *) 0xb8000;
    unsigned int i=0;

    i=(line*80*2);

    while(*message!=0)
    {
        if(*message=='\n') // check for a new line
        {
            line++;
            i=(line*80*2);
            *message++;
        } else {
            vidmem[i]=*message;
            *message++;
            i++;
            vidmem[i]=WHITE_TXT;
            i++;
        };
    };

    return(1);
}

linker.ld

OUTPUT_FORMAT(elf32-i386)
ENTRY(start)
SECTIONS
{
    . = 0x100000;
    .text : {*(.text)}
    .data : {*(.data)}
    .bss  : {*(.bss)}
}

The commands I have used to build the project.

nasm -f elf32 kernel.asm -o kasm.o => WORKS
gcc -m32 -c kernel.c -o kc.o
=> unrecognized command line option -m32 (works when I remove it)

ld -m elf_i386 -T link.ld -o kernel kasm.o kc.o 
=> ERROR HERE: ld: unrecognised emulation mode: elf_i386

qemu-system-i386 -kernel kernel