All The 2025 Oscars Controversies Explained

This year’s Oscars race has been one for the books. It’s been a time to recognize the work of some of Hollywood’s finest and to celebrate first-time and historic nominations.

But it seems that amid this history-making season, there’s been an equal amount of controversies. Many of the best picture nominees have been mired in headlines that have nothing to do with the movie.

Here’s what to know about the Oscars race we can’t look away from.

All the ways the 2025 Oscars movies faced controversy

One movie takes the award for most-nominated — and most controversial. Netflix’s “Emilia Pérez” officially holds the record for the most Oscar nominations for a non-English language film.

Garnering 13 nods, including ones for best picture, best director, best actress and supporting actress for Karla Sofía Gascón and Zoe Saldaña, respectively, the film beat out previous record holders such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) and “Roma” (2018).

The Spanish-language musical crime thriller, written and directed by Jacques Audiard, follows a criminal defense attorney (Saldaña) who helps a Mexican cartel leader (Gascón) disappear so he can transition into a woman.

While there were some mixed reactions to the film, including GLAAD, who called it “a step backward for trans representation,” the film received mostly positive reviews from critics, including the New York Times, which said Gascón’s performance added “soul to the melodrama.”

But in late January, less than three months after its release, Gascón’s rise as an award show favorite was quickly halted after a journalist shared some of her past tweets online, which many deemed offensive. Following the backlash, the actor issued an apology through Netflix and gave an interview to CNN Español Feb. 2, addressing her past comments and noting that she used her social media “more like a diary” than as a platform with influence. Some felt that the actor didn’t take full accountability for her actions, including the film’s director, who told Deadline Feb. 5 that Gascón was “self-destructive” and needed “space to reflect and take accountability for her actions.”

While Gascón’s past tweets and her recent responses to the backlash have cast a shadow over the film and her buzz-worthy portrayal, the actor’s indiscretions weren’t the only thing about “Emilia Pérez” that have caused controversy. 

Some viewers have questioned why Audiard, a French man who doesn’t speak Spanish, served as director. Others, like Mexican actor and singer Mauricio Martínez, criticized the director’s self-admitted lack of research about the country and its people while making the film.

Other criticisms surrounding the film included the perceived dismissal of Mexican culture by not casting Mexican actors in most of the lead roles and Selena Gomez’s Spanish language skills, among other issues pointed out by viewers.

But Gascón isn’t the only first-time best actress nominee that has caught flak for past or recent behavior. “I’m Still Here” Oscar nominee Fernanda Torres, who plays a mother coping with the disappearance of her politician husband, also recently made headlines after a 2008 clip of her in blackface resurfaced online. 

In a statement to Deadline Jan. 26, Torres apologized for appearing in blackface, saying she was “very sorry” and that at the time “the awareness of the racist history and symbolism of blackface hadn’t yet entered the mainstream public consciousness in Brazil.” The actor’s apology followed her best actress Golden Globe win in early January and her best actress Oscar nod, which made her the second Brazilian actress (after her mom, Fernanda Montenegro) to ever be nominated for that award. If she wins, she would make history as the first Brazilian actress to take home that Oscar. 

“Anora” had a controversy of its own. First-time Oscar nominee Mikey Madison, who plays a stripper who falls for the son of a Russian oligarch, received backlash after her comments for her decision not to use an intimacy coordinator on set.

“It was a choice that I made,” Madison said in a conversation with Pamela Anderson for Variety‘s Actors on Actors. The actor said she was offered the option of an intimacy coordinator by the film’s director, Sean Baker, and his wife, producer Samantha Quan, but she and her co-star, Mark Eydelshteyn, “decided that it would be best just to keep it small. We were able to streamline it, shoot it super quickly.”

Some fans online took issue with an intimacy coordinator being a choice and not a “mandatory requirement” on set, while others felt her comments could “lead to other directors thinking intimacy coordinators aren’t necessary.”

Baker had previously told Variety that keeping “actors safe, protected, comfortable and involved in the process” was his team’s No. 1 priority on set, but still some argued that Madison was “manipulated” into not using one. 

It’s not just films with best actress nominees that have been put through wringer this award show season. “The Brutalist,” which landed 10 Oscar nominations, including a best actor nod for its star Adrien Brody, has sparked a slew of backlash for its use of artificial intelligence.

The movie, which follows a Hungarian-Jewish Holocaust survivor who struggles in the U.S. until a wealthy client recognizes his talent as a visionary architect, used AI to digitally alter the Hungarian accents of actors Brody and Felicity Jones, neither of whom speaks Hungarian natively. Though the film’s director, Brady Corbet, went on to defend his use of AI in the movie in a statement to Deadline, some fans said the use of the technology diminished the film’s “authenticity.”

Another major contender, “Conclave,” which received a best picture and best actor nomination for Ralph Fiennes, caused a bit of a stir among Catholics. Centering around scandals and power struggles within a fictional papal conclave, the film ignited a holy, or rather unholy, debate about the film being “anti-Catholic propaganda,” as some Catholic publications put it.

Bishop Robert Barron, the bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, shared his criticism of the film on X, calling it an “irredeemable situation” and advising others to “run away from it as fast as you can.” His sentiments, which were viewed over one million times, were also reflected by various conservative commentators who said Catholics should be upset with the film. 

Then, just as some of the online chatter about the controversies surrounding this year’s nominated projects appeared to quiet down ahead of the award show on March 2, a new controversy concerning “The Apprentice” director Ali Abbasi emerged just days after Oscar voting ended on Feb. 18.

After multiple outlets reported that Abbasi was dropped by his talent agency and management after an alleged groping incident that reportedly happened at a Golden Globes party, Abbasi took to X to address the reports and apologize for his actions.

“I made an over-familiar gesture — a slap on the rear — which I intended as playful and not in any sexual way whatsoever,” he wrote in part. “I quickly realized I had misjudged the situation. I apologized to him on the spot, and the following day I made sure my apology was reiterated through my representatives.”

He also refuted reports that he was “dropped” by his representation “due to this interaction.”

“My decision to part ways was a long-term career decision that was not shaped by short motivations. I believe in taking accountability for my actions; I made a mistake, I apologized and have learned a valuable life lesson,” he added.

Abbasi’s film, which follows Donald Trump’s rise to power as a real estate mogul in the ‘80s under the mentorship of lawyer Roy Cohn, landed two Oscar nods, one for Sebastian Stan as Trump and one for Jeremy Strong, who portrayed Cohn.

How the 2025 Oscars also were a landmark for history-making representation

Amid the onslaught of controversies, there’s a silver lining to the Oscars this year: there’s a big opportunity for some major history to be made.

Gascón became the first openly trans actress to receive an Oscar nomination. This year also marks the first time four Latino performers were nominated in Oscar acting categories — Gascón, Saldaña, Torres, and Colman Domingo.

Domingo, who was nominated for his portrayal of Bayard Rustin in “Rustin” last year, also has an opportunity to become the first Afro-Latino to win the best actor Oscar for his performance in “Sing Sing,” a prison-drama that follows incarcerated men who take part in a theater arts rehabilitation program.

Meanwhile, Cynthia Erivo, nominated for her portrayal of Elphaba in “Wicked,” has the potential to become the youngest EGOT winner, or winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. 

She already has a 2016 Tony for her role as Celie in Broadway’s “The Color Purple,” a 2017 Grammy for best musical theater album for “The Color Purple” and a 2017 Daytime Emmy for her performance on TODAY with the cast of “The Color Purple.”

The film, which follows the complicated friendship of two witches, marks the third time Erivo has had a shot at the coveted honor; she received a best actress Oscar nod for “Harriet” in 2020 and another nod for best original song for “Stand Up” from the same film.

While it’s uncertain if Erivo will take home the Oscar on Sunday night, the singer talked about the tough lessons she’s learned along the way during her acceptance speech at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Awards on Feb. 27. She compared her journey to Elphaba’s and encouraged the audience — filled with Black women — to recognize their value regardless if others acknowledged or honored them for it.

“Elphaba’s journey as a woman seen as different and cast aside for the very thing that makes her unique speaks to the heart of every Black woman who has ever been judged and misunderstood and yet still learned that her power was a gift or love,” Erivo said. “So I thought that I, Cynthia, would speak to your hearts. I wanted to take this opportunity as more than an opportunity to accept this beautiful award and honor, and I wanted to use it as a way to affirm you all.”

She continued, “You weren’t insane when you were dreaming of being a superhero. You weren’t asking too much when you wanted to be seen for the lead. When you were little and you believed you could fly, that wasn’t a fairy tale. When you look at the mirror and the thought crosses your mind, if only for a fleeting moment that you might be in possession of power for magic entertainment thought, do not dismiss it. Nourish it, because it’s real.”

Essence’s annual soiree, which celebrates the cinematic achievements of Hollywood’s finest, including Teyana Taylor, Raamla Mohamed, Marla Gibbs, and the Uptown Honors Hollywood Awards are examples of culturally significant events during Oscars week that continue to highlight and celebrate actors and creatives in a way that big award shows don’t.

Jeff Friday, founder of ABFF Ventures and annual events like the American Black Film Festival and ABBF Honors, said that these type of celebrations not only acknowledge the history-making achievements of those in the industry but they put their culture and what they represent at the forefront.

“I think it’s really up to us. Instead of asking questions like, ‘Why don’t we get the validation and celebration we deserve?’ I think it’s really up to us to invest in our own celebration,” Friday told TODAY.com during the Uptown Honors Hollywood Awards on Feb. 26. “Our message and our mission is more about economic empowerment … It’s about investing in your own culture.”

The 97th Academy Awards airs Sunday, March 2 on ABC.