Conan O’Brien didn’t waste much time before he made a joke about Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón at the 2025 Academy Awards. Even though Emilia Pérez has the most nominations at the Oscars, it has proven to be a very controversial film. Since its release, Emilia Pérez has faced criticism for its portrayal of transgender people. However, despite the controversy, Emilia Pérez has proven to be an awards season standout. At one point, it even seemed like Gascón might win the Best Actress Oscar.

However, in January, screensH๏τs of several of Gascón’s deleted tweets resurfaced online, which include disturbing remarks about Muslim culture, the death of George Floyd, and other sensitive topics. Following these tweets, Gascón has not appeared at many major award ceremonies. However, she is present at the Academy Awards, and quickly became a target of O’Brien’s. In addition to making fun of Gascón, O’Brien also made a subtle joke about The Brutalist’s use of AI during his opening monologue.

Conan O’Brien’s Oscars Joke Aimed At Karla Sofía Gascón Explained

Gascón Was An Easy Target For O’Brien At The Oscars

During his opening monologue at the Oscars, O’Brien mentioned several of the movies that are nominated for Best Picture at the 2025 Academy Awards. He pointed out that the critically acclaimed Anora uses the F-word 479 times, before joking that that’s three more times than Gascón’s publicist. After Gascón’s tweets resurfaced online, she became an extremely controversial figure, which basically confirmed that she would not win Best Actress at the Academy Awards. Since she was a frontrunner before, Gascón’s publicist obviously must have been enraged.

\n”‘};

window.arrayOfEmbedScripts[“twitter”] = “”””;

Not long after this joke, O’Brien also jokingly told Gascón to refer to him as Jimmy Kimmel if she tweets about the Oscars. It’s safe to say that a lot of the other Oscar attendees don’t agree with Gascón’s offensive and insensitive tweets. Even Gascón’s Emilia Pérez co-stars, such as Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez, have claimed that they don’t condone her hurtful online posts. Therefore, O’Brien’s joke about four-time Oscar host Kimmel landed with the audience. The cameras captured Gascón’s reaction to the joke, but it seemed like she didn’t understand.

Conan O’Brien Also Poked Fun At The Brutalist’s Use Of AI While Opening The Oscars

The Brutalist Has Much Higher Ratings Than Emilia Pérez

O’Brien also poked fun at Best Picture nominee The Brutalist during his opening monologue. Despite its incredible reviews and the fact that Adrien Brody is seen as the frontrunner to win the Best Actor Oscar, The Brutalist also faced some controversy for utilizing AI. The Brutalist used AI to make the Hungarian spoken in the film sound more realistic and for architectural drawings that are included at the end of the movie.

At the Oscars, O’Brien claimed that no AI will be used during the ceremony. However, he did joke that they used child laborers. Even though The Brutalist has faced some criticism since it was revealed that AI was utilized, it doesn’t seem like it has slowed any of its momentum during awards season. Therefore, The Brutalist could still win several Oscars tonight. Keep up with Screen Rant’s Oscars 2025 winners list to stay updated on the 2025 Academy Awards throughout the night.