Karla Sofia Gascon, the BAFTA-nominated actress from Emilia Perez, will not be at the BAFTA Awards 2025 on Monday, February 17 (IST). Her co-stars, however, Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldana, will make an appearance at the glamorous event.
Gascon, the first openly trans actor to be nominated for a BAFTA, has been skipping high-profile award shows after being criticized for resurfacing racist social media posts.
Gascon Misses BAFTA 2025 Amid Backlash
Since the George Floyds controversy, Gascon has missed several high-profile events, especially the Critics Choice Awards, Goya Awards, and PGA Awards. Her non-attendance at BAFTA 2025 also indicates her choice to ignore public appearances during the current backlash. The scandal arose two weeks back when Gascon’s old tweets surfaced, wherein she had lamented the diversity at the 2021 Oscars.
In an X post, she said, “More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films. I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration, or the 8M.”. Besides that, an ugly, ugly gala.” Moreover, she also made disparaging comments about George Floyd, labeling him a “drug addict swindler” after he passed away in 2020, which sparked international protests. Hunter Harris, a screenwriter, shared on X a post about Karla Sofía Gascón’s words, which Karla had deleted following the controversy.
“More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films, I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M,” Gascón wrote. “Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala.” https://t.co/tses2imD8V
— hunter harris (@hunteryharris) January 30, 2025
British Academy Awards
At the same time, the British Academy has announced a glittering lineup of guest presenters for the event. The lineup includes Adam Scott, Camila Cabello, Anna Kendrick, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Isabella Rossellini, Colman Domingo, James McAvoy, Jesse Eisenberg, James Norton, Leo Woodall, Lupita Nyong’o, Marisa Abela, Letitia Wright, Mark Hamill, Naomi Ackie, Will Poulter, Ralph Fiennes, Simon Pegg, Thomasin McKenzie, Pamela Anderson, Vanessa Kirby, and Will Sharpe.
As Gascon is not present, her Emilia Perez co-stars Gomez and Saldana will be going, making sure the film is represented at the high-profile awards show.
