Karla Sofia Gascon congratulates winners, expresses gratitude to Academy

WASHINGTON: Actress Karla Sofia Gascon took to social media on Monday to express her gratitude to the Academy and congratulate the 2025 Oscar winners.

Gascon, who made history as the first openly transgender woman to be nominated for Best Actress, had been at the centre of a controversy in recent weeks due to resurfaced social media posts.

In her Instagram message, Gascon thanked the Academy for her nomination and for inviting her to the ceremony. “I enjoyed it very much. It was entertaining and fun, especially the fabulous host Conan O’Brien–he is fantastic and looks more like the great Conan O’Brien every day”, she wrote.

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A post shared by Karla Sofía Gascón (@karsiagascon)

Gascon also shared a lighthearted anecdote about receiving gifts for her Oscar nomination, including a bag of chips and a lemon-flavored soda that unexpectedly contained THC. “I laugh now even though I still have vertigo, but I did get scared. Good thing my daughter didn’t take it to school”, she joked.

The actress concluded her message by congratulating all the winners, including Zoe Saldana, who won for her role in Emilia Perez, and songwriters Clement Ducol and Camille, who won for the film’s song “El Mal”.

Following the recent controversy surrounding her offensive resurfaced tweets, Karla Sofia Gascon marked her presence at the Oscars, but skipped posing on the red carpet.

As per Variety, she was first caught on camera during Conan O’Brien’s monologue on Sunday night, after the comedian made a joke about the number of f-bombs her publicist likely uttered this award season.

He then spoke directly to Gascon as the camera locked onto her in the crowd, saying. “If you are going to tweet about the Oscars, remember, my name is Jimmy Kimmel”.

Gascon recently faced backlash after X users discovered tweets from 2020 and 2021 that had controversial views on Muslims, George Floyd and diversity at the Oscars.

Later, in a statement to Variety, she apologised, saying, “I want to acknowledge the conversation around my past social media posts that have caused hurt. As someone in a marginalized community, I know this suffering all too well, and I am deeply sorry to those I have caused pain. All my life I have fought for a better world. I believe light will always triumph over darkness”.

Among her several resurfaced tweets, Gascon critiqued the diversity of the 2021 Oscars ceremony. “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. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala”, she wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).

She also called George Floyd a “drug addict swindler” after he was killed by a police officer in 2020 and inspired protests around the US.

Karla-starrer “Emilia Perez” received 13 Oscar nominations, including best picture and best director. Gascon’s nomination was notable as she was the first openly trans woman to get a best actress nod. (ANI)