Bill Maher Blames ‘Cancel Culture’ for Controversial Film Coming Up Short at Oscars

By Khumaer Bayas On Mar 8, 2025

The Academy Awards ceremony saw the Netflix film Emilia Pérez nominated for several prestigious awards, though its wins were limited. It failed to win Best Picture that night, and funnyman Bill Maher believes this to be the result of “cancel culture” still at play.

On Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday night, Maher commented on Sunday’s Oscars ceremony. He took the opportunity to argue that cancel culture is still thriving, despite claims he’s been hearing that those days are gone. Maher argued that Emilia Pérez was clearly the “frontrunner” to sweep the Oscars before its controversies led to Academy voters snubbing the film. In part, that includes the backlash associated with lead star Karla Sofia Gascon, whom Maher praised for her performance in Emilia Pérez.

‘That’s Messed Up’: Shannen Doherty’s Absence From Oscars’ In Memoriam Slammed by 90210 Co-Star

Shannen Doherty’s acting career included films like Heathers and Mallrats.

“There are people who say cancel culture isn’t a real thing and I would say to them, ‘It just happened at the Oscars,’” Maher explained. “You may not think it happened but the movie that was going to win it all was Emilia Pérez.”

[Cancel culture] just happened at the Oscars.

Maher commented on how, at one point, Hollywood “loved” the concept of having a trans performer win the Oscar for Best Actress at the Academy Awards, which would have made history. The Real Time host noted that Gascon deserved the nomination, adding, “God bless her, she did a great job.” However, Maher explained how problematic posts on social media from Gascon’s past resurfaced amid the Oscars campaign for Emilia Perez. While Maher described the posts as “a little childlike,” he suggested that shutting out the movie from potential Oscar wins was an overboard response, enough to prove that cancel culture still exists.

Tony Todd’s Widow Blasts the Oscars for In Memoriam Segment Snubbing the Horror Icon

Michelle Trachtenberg and Shannen Doherty were also missing from the Oscars’ In Memoriam segment.

“This movie, that was going to win it all, it was the frontrunner, and she was going to get all… suddenly was out to lunch,” Maher noted. “And good news for Anora. That’s what happened. So yes, cancel culture is still with us. It may just be a little more subtle.”

Anora Won Best Picture at the Academy Awards

As Maher said, the indie hit Anora was the film that won Best Picture at the Oscars. Anora star Mikey Madison also claimed the win for Best Actress. It’s hard to say for certain if Emilia Pérez would have taken one or both of these awards if not for the social media controversy associated with Gascon. In any case, the backlash certainly didn’t help the movie’s chances of scoring more Oscar wins.

Emilia Pérez was able to secure two wins after landing 13 nominations, which was the most noms of any movie at the Oscars. Zoe Saldaña won for Best Supporting Actress, marking her first Oscar win. The film also won for Best Original Song, for “El Mal.”

Real Time with Bill Maher can be streamed on Max.

Source: Real Time with Bill Maher

Emilia Perez

Release Date: November 13, 2024
Runtime: 130 Minutes
Director: Jacques Audiard
Writers: Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Léa Mysius

Karla Sofía Gascón

Emilia / Manitas

_{Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their legal original owners.}

_{Aggregated From –}

_{Source link}

_{We do not take money from any political parties. We do not endorse In_dia’s ruling party BJP and In_dia’s Prime Minister’s position on keeping In_dia a closed market, ambiguous economy, and keeping India as a heavy taxing country so no one from outside world wants to do business here. It’s like denying In_dia its right in the world…}

_{BJP Government also discourages small and local media, coming down on them heavily regulating and using lawful actions along with soft threats from demented bureaucrat extremists and other extremist groups. On one hand, the mainstream media in In_dia is getting rich and on other hand the local small media is being strangulated. So if not automated or required, We do not willfully publish any content from In_dia or pertaining to that country.}