Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofia Gascon looked awkward as she was pictured in the crowd Sunday at the 97th Academy Awards, while host Conan O’Brien fired off a few jokes about her tweet scandal.
Gascón, 52, appeared to be uncomfortable in her seat in the event, which stemmed from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, as O’Brien rattled off a series of remarks about the controversy she was involved in after unsavory old tweets resurfaced.
Gascón found herself in the crosshairs of controversy shortly after making history as the first openly-transgender actress nominated in the Best Actress category for her portrayal of Emilia Pérez’s тιтular character.
She landed in H๏τ water amid resurfaced shock social media posts from the actress that garnered controversy amid allegations of racism, homophobia and body shaming, among other unpleasantries.
O’Brien joked that Best picture nominee Anora used ‘the f-word 479 times,’ adding ‘that’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofía Gascón’s publicist!’
The host joked as the camera panned on the actress, who did not appear to be amused, adding, ‘Karla, if you are gonna tweet about the Oscars my name is Jimmy Kimmel.’
Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofia Gascon, 52, looked awkward as she was pictured in the crowd Sunday at the 97th Academy Awards from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood
O’Brien rattled off a series of remarks about the controversy she was involved in after unsavory old tweets resurfaced
In the Best Actress category, Gascon was nominated against The Substance’s Demi Moore; Anora’s Mikey Madison; I’m Still Here’s Fernanda Torres; and Wicked’s Cynthia Erivo.
A number of users on X/Twitter expressed their views on O’Brien’s joke.
Read More Karla Sofia Gascon slammed by SNL’s Bowen Yang over ‘racist’ posts controversy 
One user said they were ‘surprised he did that in front of her,’ while some people said that cultural and gender issues played an underlying role in the jokes and how they were received.
‘Male actors are not treated this badly when they don’t do something well and more than one has done worse things than writing tweets like Karla’s,’ said one user.
Another added, ‘Her tweets were Islamophobic so of course we can joke about it and she’s not cancelled.’
Some people posted GIFs to express their sentiments after the awkward exchange.
Social media was buzzing February 3 after over Netflix’s purported removal of transgender actress Karla Sofia Gascón from promotional materials for its Oscar-nominated film Emilia Pérez, a month ahead of the 97th Academy Awards.
A number of users across platforms such as X/Twitter and Reddit said that it was clear the streamer was looking to minimize the presence of Gascón in their Oscar campaigning for the movie.
Gascón appeared to be uncomfortable during the jokes at the event, which stemmed from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood
Gascón had found herself in the crosshairs of controversy shortly after making history as the first openly-transgender actress nominated in the Best Actress category for her portrayal of Emilia Pérez’s тιтular character
Karla Sofía Gascón has been completely erased from the latest Oscars ‘For Your Consideration’ ad for Emilia Pérez. I wonder why!?? pic.twitter.com/4AJ2jOSsgl
— Jason (@jasonosia) February 3, 2025
The change in direction came amid resurfaced social media posts from the actress that garnered controversy amid allegations of racism, homophobia and body shaming, among other unpleasantries.
Gascón, 52, received a Best Actress nomination for her portrayal of the film’s тιтular character, making history as the first openly-transgender actress nominated in the category.
Read More Emilia Pérez is branded ‘the worst movie ever’ after it dominated Oscar nominations with 13 nods 
Promotional materials for ‘For Your Awards Consideration’ (FYC) appeared focused on Best Supporting Actress nominee Zoe Saldaña, 46, as she was the centerpiece of both the poster circulating online; and an Netflix FYC page, which showcased a close up of the star’s face.
Saldaña received her first career Oscar nod played the role of Rita in the Spanish language film, and appears the heavy favorite to capture the prize.
On X, a number of prominent film-related accounts commented on Gascón being absent from a promotional poster the streamer purportedly released touting the movie’s 13 Academy Award nominations, but omitting Gascón’s name and image.
‘Karla Sofía Gascón has been completely erased from the latest Oscars ‘For Your Consideration’ ad for Emilia Pérez. I wonder why!??’ a tweet from @jasonosia read, linking to the poster.
The account run by Sam Herbst at the handle @smhrbst posted a link to the poster, adding, ‘New Netflix FYC poster for Emilia Perez without Karla on it oh it’s OVER lmaooo.’
A number of commenters took the streaming service to task over omitting Gascón in spite of her recent controversies.
Gascón received a Best Actress nomination for her portrayal of the film’s тιтular character, making history as the first openly-transgender actress nominated in the category
A number of users on X/Twitter expressed their views on O’Brien’s joke
Some people posted GIFs to express their sentiments after the awkward exchange
‘Emilia Perez is about a woman but don’t worry about her,’ Herbst commented.
Film critic Guy Lodge noted of the new promotional materials: ‘The irony of this campaign literally erasing its trans lead.’
Read More Transgender Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón under fire for ‘hurtful’ social media posts 
Another user noted how the streaming service even left Gascón’s nomination out of the poster, instead promoting Best Original Song nominee El Mal instead of Gascón’s historic honor: ‘I ᴀssumed this was simply about omitting her from the pH๏τos, but they’ve even left the lead acting nomination unmentioned up here! Oh my.’
A Reddit user noted, ‘They’re advertising original song on the top over her.’
Said another user of the poster: ‘It doesn’t even include the тιтle of the film lmfao.’
Another X/Twitter user referenced Gascón’s social media controversy, saying of Netflix’s tack: ‘Clearly they don’t want her mess to affect the film, her pic on the poster would bring up on everyone’s memory every disgusting post she made.’
The film site World of Reel noted that the streamer was ‘attempting to steer its $30M+ Oscar campaign for Emilia Perez in the right direction, and this means, quite wisely, ignoring that its controversial star Karla Sofia Gascón was even in the movie.’
The site said that ‘Netflix has basically thrown in the towel’ in pushing Gascón as a viable Oscar contender.
Opinions on social media were mixed about Netflix’s change in direction amid controversy last month over Gascón’s tweets
Said one user: ‘So, the supposed тιтle character has been completely (and understandably) scrubbed from promotional for the supposed supporting character who’s the actual lead in the film.
‘Saldana should’ve been submitted in the lead actress category in the first place because she’s the lead.’
In the Best Supporting Actress category, Saldaña appears the heavy favorite to capture the honors over fellow nominees including Wicked’s Ariana Grande; The Brutalist’s Felicity Jones; Conclave’s Isabella Rossellini; and A Complete Unknown’s Monica Barbaro.
Emilia Perez, directed by Jacques Audiard, led the way with 13 nominations when this year’s Oscar nominees were announced in Beverly Hills on January 23.
Other key nominations the film received included Best Motion Picture of the Year, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Achievement in Directing for Audiard.
Conan O’Brien, 61, is making his debut as Oscars host, after joking: ‘I only agreed to host so that I could get invited.’
This year’s ceremony has an unusually unsettled field in many of the most high-profile categories, including best picture and most of the acting categories.
Emilia Pérez leads the nominations this year with 13, including for best picture, actress (for Karla Sofía Gascón), supporting actress (for Zoe Saldaña), director (for Jacques Audiard), adapted screenplay and original song.
Gascón stars as the тιтle character, a former Mexican drug lord who comes out as a transgender woman and fakes her own death in order to reinvent herself as a pro-social force, while Saldaña plays an ethically challenged lawyer who helps set up her new idenтιтy.
The Brutalist landed in second place with 10 nominations, including for best picture, director (for Brady Corbet), actor (for Adrien Brody), supporting actor (for Guy Pearce), supporting actress (for Felicity Jones), and original screenplay.
Emilia Pérez leads this year’s Oscar nominees with 13 nominations, including for best picture, actress (for Karla Sofía Gascón), supporting actress (for Zoe Saldaña) and director
The Brutalist landed in second place with 10 nominations, including for best picture, director (for Brady Corbet), actor (for Adrien Brody), supporting actor (for Guy Pearce), supporting actress (for Felicity Jones), and original screenplay
Conan O’Brien is hosting the ceremony, which is being held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, for the first time; pictured Wednesday in Hollywood
Brody stars as a Jewish Hungarian architect who immigrates to the US after surviving the Holocaust. The epic historical drama follows his character László Tóth’s attempts to realize his creative vision even as it conflicts with the petty desires of his wealthy benefactor (Pearce).
Wicked tied it for 10 nominations, including for best picture, actress (for Cynthia Erivo), and supporting actress (for Ariana Grande).
The blockbuster musical is an adaptation of only the first half of the musical of the same name, a reimagined prequel to The Wizard Of Oz starring Erivo as Elphaba, future Wicked Witch of the West, and Grande as Galinda Upland, who becomes Glinda the Good
Other best pictures nominees include Anora, A Complete Unknown, Conclave, Dune: Part Two, I’m Still Here, Nickel Boys and The Substance.
The closely watched race for best actor in a leading role got a major shakeup just a week before the Oscars at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, when Timothée Chalamet scored a shock win for his Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.
Prior to that win, Brody was seemingly the favorite after winning best actor awards at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards, the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Movie Awards.
Ralph Fiennes has also doggedly stayed in the running for his role as a British Cardinal struggling to keep a secretive papal election from dissolving into compeтιтion and intrigue.
The critically acclaimed film has scored multiple actor wins at smaller ceremonies and festivals for Fiennes, as well as multiple awards for the entire acting ensemble, which Fiennes has accepted on more than one occasion.
Wicked tied it for 10 nominations, including for best picture, actress (for Cynthia Erivo), and supporting actress (for Ariana Grande)
This year’s best lead actor race is up in the air after Timothée Chalamet’s recent SAG win for A Complete Unknown
Brody is also a favorite for The Brutalist, but Ralph Fiennes has gotten plenty of awards-season attention for the papal-selection drama Conclave
Those three co-frontrunners are competing against Colman Domingo for Sing Sing and Sebastian Stan for his performance as a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice.
The best actress category also has no clear frontrunner. Demi Moore has been lauded for her comeback performance in the satirical body-horror film The Substance, which earned her best actress honors from the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes, as well as several critics’ organizations.
But her win a week before the Oscars at the SAG Awards suggests she may be in a prime spot to snatch the Oscar after being nominated for the first time.
Anora star Mikey Madison, who plays an adult dancer who impetuously marries the son of a Russian Oligarch, was widely acclaimed and was honored by several critics’ organizations early in the season.
Her chances increased significantly after she won the BAFTA for best lead actress, which she followed up with an Independent Spirit Award win in the gender-neutral lead performance category.
Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón was once a favorite for the award, but she was widely criticized after racist and Islamophobic tweets — some quite recent — that had somehow gone unremarked upon were translated into English and reported on.
Since then, Gascón has sat out awards ceremonies after her posts came to light. After multiple half-hearted apologies, Netflix reportedly opted to stop paying for Gascón’s travel and accommodations for awards shows, though a source told People that she still plans to attend the Oscars.
Before the controversy, her nomination was seen as historic, as she is the first openly transgender woman to be nominated in the best actress category.
Anora’s Mikey Madison is a late-breaking best actress co-frontrunner after recent wins and controversy that erupted after offensive tweets from Emilia Pérez’s Karla Sofía Gascón resurfaced
Demi Moore is the other major frontrunner for the satirical body-horror film The Substance. She has won multiple major awards this season
The other nominees are Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, who has failed to capture any major awards, and the Brazilian actress Fernanda Torres, who stars in the historical drama I’m Still Here. She had her own controversy after a clip of her appearing in blackface in a comedy sketch from a Brazilian TV series 17 years ago resurfaced in January.
In the supporting actress category, the nominees including Monica Barbaro for A Complete Unknown, Ariana Grande for Wicked, Felicity Jones for The Brutalist, Isabella Rossellini for Conclave and Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez
Saldaña appears to be the current favorite after a string of wins at the Golden Globes, BAFTA Awards, SAG Awards and Critics Choice Awards.
But some of those early awards had voting periods that cut off prior to the controversy around Gascón surfacing, which could potentially harm her chances from voters who were turned off of Emilia Pérez altogether.
The supporting actor category seems the easiest to predict, Kieran Culkin’s string of wins for A Real Pain making him the favorite.
The other nominees include Yura Borisov for Anora, Edward Norton for A Complete Unknown, Guy Pearce for The Brutalist and Jeremy Strong for The Apprentice.
Among the best picture nominees, Emilia Pérez once seemed like the most likely winner, but Gascon’s offensive posts have threatened its chances.
The Palme d’Or–winning Anora got a late boost with wins for best picture at the Directors Guild of America Awards and the Producers Guild of America Awards, which are considered two of the best predictors of Oscars success by awards-season prognosticators, and its win at the Independent Spirit Awards didn’t hurt.
Saldaña appears to be the favorite in the supporting actress category after a string of wins
Kieran Culkin has dominated the supporting actor categories in recent weeks for Jesse Eisenberg’s drama A Real Pain
After Gascón’s offensive tweets surfaced, Emilia Pérez’s best picture frontrunner status seemed in question, and Anora has snatched up the top award at multiple ceremonies considered major predictors of the Oscars
The best director category seems likely to be a three-man race between Anora’s Sean Baker, The Brutalist director Brady Corbet and Emilia Pérez’s Jacques Audiard.
This year’s original song category features two cutes from Emilia Pérez, El Mal and Mi Camino, the new Elton John song Never Too Late, from the documentary of the same name about him, Like a Bird from Sing Sing, and the latest Diane Warren effort The Journey.
The Academy Awards begin at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT and can be watched on ABC and, for the first time, on a streaming service, Hulu.
Subscribers to premium services including Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, AT&T TV and FuboTV can also also catch the ceremony live.
Oscar winners 2025 full list – see who received honors for this year’s Academy Awards
Best Picture
Anora – WINNER
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Pérez
I’m Still Here
Nickel Boys
The Substance
Wicked
Emilia Pérez leads this year’s Oscar nominees with 13, including for best picture, actress, supporting actress and director
Best Director
Jacques Audiard — Emilia Pérez
Sean Baker — Anora – WINNER
Brady Corbet — The Brutalist
Coralie Fargeat — The Substance
James Mangold — A Complete Unknown
Actress in a Leading Role
Cynthia Erivo — Wicked
Karla Sofía Gascón — Emilia Pérez
Mikey Madison — Anora – WINNER
Demi Moore — The Substance
Fernanda Torres — I’m Still Here
The Substance has been nominated for numerous Oscars, including Best Actress for Demi Moore
Actor in a Leading Role
Adrien Brody — The Brutalist – WINNER
Timothée Chalamet — A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo — Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes — Conclave
Sebastian Stan — The Apprentice
The Brutalist came in second place with 10 nods, including for best picture, actor (Adrien Brody), supporting actor (Guy Peare) and supporting actress (Felicity Jones)
Actress in a Supporting Role
Monica Barbaro — A Complete Unknown
Ariana Grande — Wicked
Felicity Jones — The Brutalist
Isabella Rossellini — Conclave
Zoe Saldaña — Emilia Pérez – WINNER
Actor in a Supporting Role
Yura Borisov — Anora
Kieran Culkin — A Real Pain – WINNER
Edward Norton — A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce — The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong — The Apprentice
Animated Feature Film
Flow – WINNER
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot
Cinematography
The Brutalist — Lol Crawley – WINNER
Dune: Part Two — Greig Fraser
Emilia Pérez — Paul Guilhaume
Maria — Ed Lachman
Nosferatu — Jarin Blaschke
Original Screenplay
Anora — Sean Baker – WINNER
The Brutalist — Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold
A Real Pain — Jesse Eisenberg
September 5 — Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum; co-Written by Alex David
The Substance — Coralie Fargeat
Adapted Screenplay
A Complete Unknown — James Mangold and Jay Cocks
Conclave — Peter Straughan – WINNER
Emilia Pérez — Jacques Audiard with Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius and Nicolas Livecchi
Nickel Boys — RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes
Sing Sing — Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar; Story by Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence Maclin, John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield
Achievement in Production Design
The Brutalist
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
Wicked – Nathan Crowley and Lee Sandales – WINNER
Achievement in Sound
A Complete Unknown
Dune: Part Two – WINNER
Emilia Pérez
Wicked
The Wild Robot
Original Song
El Mal – Emilia Pérez – Clément Ducol, Camille, and Jacques Audiard – WINNER
The Journey – The Six Triple Eight
Like A Bird – Sing Sing
Mi Camino – Emilia Pérez
Never Too Late – Elton John: Never Too Late
Original Score
The Brutalist — Daniel Blumberg – WINNER
Conclave — Volker Bertelmann
Emilia Pérez — Clément Ducol and Camille
Wicked — John Powell and Stephen Schwartz
The Wild Robot — Kris Bowers
Live-Action Short Film
A Lien
Anuja
I’m Not a Robot – WINNER
The Last Ranger
The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent
Animated Short Film
Beautiful Men
In the Shadow of the Cypress – WINNER
Magic Candies
Wander to Wonder
Yuck!
Documentary Feature Film
Black Box Diaries
No Other Land – WINNER
Porcelain War
Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat
Sugarcane
Flow is nominated for both International Feature Film and Animated Feature Film
Documentary Short Film
Death by Numbers
I Am Ready, Warden
Incident
Instruments of a Beating Heart
The Only Girl in the Orchestra – WINNER
International Feature Film
I’m Still Here (Brazil) – WINNER
The Girl With the Needle (Denmark)
Emilia Pérez (France)
The Seed of the Sacred Fig (Germany)
Flow (Latvia)
Kieran Culkin has dominated the supporting actor categories in recent weeks for Jesse Eisenberg’s drama A Real Pain
Makeup and Hairstyling
A Different Man
Emilia Pérez
Nosferatu
The Substance – Pierre Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon, and Marilyne Scarselli – WINNER
Wicked
Achievement in Costume Design
A Complete Unknown — Arianne Phillips
Conclave — Lisy Christl
Gladiator II — Janty Yates and Dave Crossman
Nosferatu — Linda Muir
Wicked — Paul Tazewell – WINNER
Achievement in Film Editing
Anora — Sean Baker – WINNER
The Brutalist — David Jancso
Conclave — Nick Emerson
Emilia Pérez — Juliette Welfling
Wicked — Myron Kerstein
Anora is nominated for several Oscars, including best picture, actress, supporting actor, director, screenplay and editing
Visual Effects
Alien: Romulus
Better Man
Dune: Part Two – WINNER
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Wicked
