Karla Sofía Gascón's resurfaced tweets torpedoed the film's Oscar campaign — it won just 2 Academy Awards out of 13 nominations — but didn't impact the French honors, where 'Emilia Pérez' won best film.

With the 2025 Oscars now in the rearview mirror, let's take a look at the controversies surrounding "Emilia Pérez." The film follows the story of Gascón's titular character, Emilia Pérez, a Mexican drug cartel leader who fakes her death with the help of a lawyer (Saldaña) and undergoes gender-affirming surgery.

The Spanish-language musical from Netflix saw its grand hopes fizzle after derisive social media posts from its star resurfaced.

Saldaña‘s Oscar win is a testament to the strength of her performance, one that Academy voters recognized despite “Emilia Pérez” being the subject of controversy, both because of offensive tweets from Saldaña’s co-star and the depiction of Mexico in the film.

Karla Sofía Gascón, the actress ensnared in controversy after her racist posts resurfaced, revealed she accidentally got high off an Oscars gift bag. In an Instagram story posted on Tuesday, the Emilia Pérez star said she ate a bag of chips and drank a lemon-flavored soda from the Academy’s goodie bag when she “suddenly” started feeling dizzy.

This is for my grandmother.” Oscars 2025 host Conan O’Brien made controversy over Karla Sofía Gascón’s offensive tweets part of his opening monologue, which at first seemed to be a joke taking aim at the night’s eventual big winner Anora.

The film "Emilia Pérez" has been nominated for 13 Oscars, despite receiving poor audience ratings. Read more to hear about why viewers have criticized the film's portrayal of trans women's experiences.