It looks like Karla Sofía Gascón will be skipping the 2025 Oscars red carpet after all.
The 97th annual Academy Awards is taking place tonight at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. While Gascón’s Emilia Pérez costars Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez have walked the red carpet, the movie’s titular star was nowhere to be found ahead of the ceremony. (She was later seen inside the venue at the start of the show.)
Her red-carpet absence may not come as a total shock. Although Gascón made history this year as the first transgender star to be nominated in the Best Actress category, she has been keeping a low profile after facing backlash over old social-media posts that resurfaced earlier this year. In now-deleted tweets that date back to 2021, Gascón reportedly made alarming and offensive comments regarding Islam, George Floyd, the Covid-19 pandemic, and more, according to Variety.
Saldaña, who is nominated tonight in the Best Supporting Actress category, addressed the scandal during a Q&A in late January.
“It makes me really sad because I don’t support [it], and I don’t have any tolerance for any negative rhetoric towards people of any group,” Saldaña said, per The Hollywood Reporter. “I can only attest to the experience that I had with each and every individual that was a part, that is a part, of this film, and my experience and my interactions with them was about inclusivity and collaboration and racial, cultural, and gender equity. And it just saddens me.”
Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard condemned Gascón’s comments in an interview with Deadline, calling her posts “absolutely hateful” and “inexcusable.” He revealed that he hadn’t yet spoken to Gascón: “I’m not getting in touch with her because right now she needs space to reflect and take accountability for her actions.”
Gascón, who has since deactivated her X account, issued an apology in a statement shared to The Hollywood Reporter on January 31. “I apologize again if anyone has ever felt offended or in the future,” she said. “I am a human being who also made, makes and will make mistakes from which I will learn. I am not perfect.”
Since the outbreak of the scandal, Gascón skipped attending the Critics Choice Awards, the BAFTAs, and the SAG Awards.