Karla Sofía Gascón takes a swipe at Timothée Chalamet while his opera drama snowballs ahead of 2026 Oscars: 'Are you a trans woman?'

Sometimes Hollywood really does love a good comeback story. Or at least a good side-eye from someone who's been through the wringer and lived to tell about it.

Karla Sofía Gascón, who had her entire Oscars campaign for Emilia Pérez collapsed last year in spectacular fashion, is now watching Timothée Chalamet deal with his own growing controversy after his controversial remarks on ballet and opera. And apparently she had some thoughts she wanted to share with the class.




Gascón hopped on her Instagram Stories and shared a meme featuring her and Chalamet as their respective characters from Emilia Pérez and Marty Supreme, looking like they were having a phone conversation. In the meme, was asking if the Oscars would make him skip the red carpet. Her response was pretty cheeky.

"Are you a trans woman? Then don't worry about it, Tim," she wrote.

She also mentioned loving ballet and seeing Phantom of the Opera way too many times, before getting a little more real about her own situation. "Even though no one has seen or heard me say anything, while they have both seen and heard you, people still seem to prefer believing whatever the bad guys claim I said."




In case you are confused, she’s pointing out what she sees as a double standard. Her implication seems to be that she, a trans woman, was effectively shut out over past comments, while Timmy, a white male star, can shrug off criticism and still remain firmly in the Oscars conversation.




So let's rewind because last year was genuinely wild for Gascón.

She was actually having a real, history making moment. She became the first openly trans actress ever nominated for Best Actress for her role in Emilia Perez. People were excited, campaigns were running, Netflix was behind her, everything was looking beautiful. Until, someone did some digging.

Her old tweets resurfaced and they were genuinely bad. Like Islamophobic comments, weird takes on George Floyd, shots at Oscars diversity, just a whole lot of stuff that did not look good in the light of day.




Despite her Best Actress win at Cannes Film Festival and Critics Choice Awards for the role last year, Netflix distanced themselves immediately, stopped funding her awards campaign, and pretty much acted like she didn't exist anymore. She got scrubbed from FYC ads, dropped from events, and eventually, her Oscar dream was shattered.

She still showed up to Oscars night but skipped the red carpet completely. And Emilia Pérez, which had been sitting on 13 nominations and looking like a major contender, basically evaporated into just two wins. It was a brutal fall from grace.




Okay so here's what started all this. Chalamet was just chatting with Matthew McConaughey, and he said something about not really wanting to "work in ballet or opera, or things where it's like, 'Hey, keep this thing alive,' even though no one cares about this anymore."

He did add "all respect" right after saying it, which is the kind of thing you say when you realise maybe that came out wrong, but the internet, which was already tired of the Dune star's 'self-absorbed' statements, completely lost it.

The Met Opera posted what felt like a pretty clear shade throw on their Instagram. The Royal Ballet and Opera in London took a different approach and just straight up invited him to come see a show sometime, which is a much classier burn honestly.

It's been snowballing for a few days now and doesn't really show signs of stopping.




Here's where it might actually matter for him.

The betting markets are showing his chances for Best Actor for Marty Supreme slipping. On Polymarket, which is this site where people literally bet on outcomes like elections and awards, he's down to around 31 percent. That's not nothing.

Michael B. Jordan, the heart of Sinners, is creeping up. Whether the ballet comments are directly causing this or it's just bad timing, the numbers don't lie. Voters might be side eyeing him harder than they were a month ago.




However, Timothée's Oscar campaign might not be affected too much by social media trends, as voting for the 98th Academy Awards closed at 5 p.m. PT on Thursday, March 5, 2026. The award will be handed out on March 15, 2026.