Awkward moment stars don't know whether to clap Emilia Pérez star after she skipped BAFTAs over racist tweet controversy - as woke Netflix trans movie faces being cancelled 

Karla Sofía Gascón's Lead Actress nomination announcement received a very muted applause at last night's BAFTA Film Awards. The Emilia Pérez star, 52, has been mired in controversy after several abrasive social media posts resurfaced and sparked controversy amid allegations of racism, homophobia and body shaming. It includes comments which called George Floyd a 'drug addict swindler', and writing, amid the Covid pandemic, that 'the Chinese vaccine, apart from the mandatory chip, comes with two spring rolls, a cat that moves its hand, 2 plastic flowers, a pop-up lantern, 3 telephone lines and one euro for your first controlled purchase'.

And while the movie took several gongs at Sunday's celebrated event, with director Jacques Audiard accepting Best Film Not In The English language, and Zoe Saldaña winning Best Supporting Actress, there was a decidedly lukewarm reception for its lead protagonist. Leo Woodall and Chiwetel Ejiofor - who play romantic rivals in Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy - took to the stage to present the accolade, which was won by Mikey Madison for Anora, announcing each name as a snippet of their performance was played.

As each actress was featured, they were met with thunderous clapping and cheering - with one exception. In an awkward moment, Karla received very little fanfare as an emotional scene of her sorrowfully singing to co-star Zoe Saldaña played. The moment was made all the more wince-worthy as the camera panned over to the actresses ahead of announcing the winner - but as Karla wasn't present at the event, only a headshot of hers featured.

This is the awkward moment Karla Sofía Gascón's Lead Actress nomination announcement received a very muted applause at last night's BAFTA Film Awards. The Emilia Pérez star, 52, (pictured in January) has been mired in controversy after several offensive social media posts resurfaced and sparked controversy amid allegations of racism , homophobia and body shaming. But while the controversial actress faced little love from the audience, the French filmmaker, 72, behind the movie, said 'he could kiss' the absent star while accepting his award this weekend.

During his speech Jacques thanked the cast before ending his speech by saying: 'I also thank you Karla Sofía, who I kiss'. Meanwhile Zoe, 46, in her expletive acceptance speech read a long list of persons she wished to thank, one of whom was Karla. The director previously branded the actress' tweets as 'inexcusable' and 'hateful' saying they had 'affected' the pair's relationship. He told Deadline: 'The trust we shared, the exceptional atmosphere that we had on the set that was indeed based on trust. And when you have that kind of relationship and suddenly you read something that that person has said, things that are absolutely hateful and worthy of being hated, of course that relationship is affected'.

Before adding: 'It's as if you fall into a hole. Because what Karla Sofía said is inexcusable.'. Karla received very little fanfare as an emotional scene of her sorrowfully singing to co-star Zoe Saldaña played. As each actress was featured, they were met with thunderous clapping and cheering - with one exception. Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard paid a tribute to controversial star Karla Sofía Gascón in his acceptance speech at the 2025 BAFTAs on Sunday.

Meanwhile Zoe Saldaña, 48, who won Best Supporting Actress for her role in the movie, almost name checked her controversial co-star. Karla has come under fire after her old social media comments were uncovered, showing her criticising Islam, George Floyd, Adele and co-star Selena. The posts, which were found by Muslim writer Sarah Hagi and translated into English by Variety, have since been deleted from Gascón's X account (formerly known as Twitter).

One post, from November 2020, read: 'I'm sorry. Is it just my impression or is there more muslims in Spain? Every time I go to pick up my daughter from school there are more women with their hair covered and their skirts down to their heels. Next year instead of English we'll have to teach Arabic.'. Another post from September 2020 featured a photo of a Muslim family dining in a restaurant in traditional Islamic attire, which included the wife covered from head-to-toe in a black burqa.

'Islam is marvelous, without any machismo. Women are respected, and when they are so respected they are left with a little squared hole on their faces for their eyes to be visible and their mouths, but only if she behaves. Although they dress this way for their own enjoyment. How DEEPLY DISGUSTING OF HUMANITY,' Karla wrote. In 2021 Karla wrote that 'Islam fails to comply with international rights', and 'I am so sick of so much of this s**t, of islam, of christianity, of catholicism and of all the fucking beliefs of morons that violate human rights'.

She also posted about George Floyd, whose murder by Minneapolis police, as he protested 'I can't breathe', sparked the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. Karla wrote: 'I really think that very few people ever cared about George Floyd, a drug addict swindler, but his death has served to once again demonstrate that there are people who still consider black people to be monkeys without rights and consider policemen to be assassins. They are both wrong.'.