Karla Sofía Gascón is in the audience at the 2025 Oscars after a tumultuous awards season which saw her widely criticized for offensive resurfaced tweets on a variety of topics, including Muslims, George Floyd and diversity at the Academy Awards.
The “Emilia Pérez” star, nominated for best actress at this year’s awards, issued an apology for her old social media posts after they went viral, saying she was “deeply sorry” for them.
The actress later spoke out on cancel culture, which she believes many want to subject her to.
On Sunday night, Gascón did not appear to walk the red carpet ahead of the Oscars, instead going directly to her seat inside the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood in Los Angeles.
Karla Sofia Gascon attends the 97th Annual Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, Mar. 2, 2025.
Richard Harbaugh/AMPAS/AFP via Getty Images
At the start of the show, Oscars host Conan O’Brien alluded to Gascón’s difficult awards season in his opening monologue.
“[Best picture nominee] ‘Anora’ uses f-word 479 times — that’s three more than the record set by Karla Sofía Gascón’s publicist,” O’Brien joked.
Karla Sofia Gascon before the Oscars show at the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, Mar. 2, 2025.
Carlos Barria/Reuters
In “Emilia Pérez,” Gascón, who is transgender, plays a Mexican cartel boss who fakes her death and undergoes a gender-affirming surgery, later attempting to reconnect with her family and right the wrongs of her past.
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The actress made history with her nomination, becoming the first openly trans actor to score an Oscar nomination in the acting field.
(L-R) Karla Sofía Gascón as Emilia Pérez and Zoe Saldaña as Rita Moro Castro in “Emilia Pérez.”
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Gascón did not ultimately win the best actress Oscar, with the award going to Mikey Madison for her role in “Anora.”
Along with Gascón’s best actress nomination, her “Emilia Pérez” co-star Zoe Saldaña was up for the best supporting actress award — an award she went on to win — and director Jacques Audiard was nominated for best director. The film was also up for best picture.
“Emilia Pérez” garnered 13 nominations in total this year, the most of any other film.
The other “Emilia Pérez” nominations included best original score, best makeup and hairstyling, best adapted screenplay, two nominations for best original song, best international feature film, best film editing, best sound and best cinematography.
