Emilia has been tipped for Academy attention since Greta Gerwig’s Cannes Film Fest jury gave it two key prizes.

And its field-leading 13 Oscar nominations have made it, up until very recently, the film to beat.

Moreover, its star Karla Sofía Gascón has become a defining figure in a competitive and unpredictable awards race.

The shocking revelations off years’ worth of Islamophobic, racist and casually yet remarkably cruel posts on the platform now known as X have given us something utterly novel: An awards-season star whose existence makes one wish the Oscars weren’t even happening.

Her bigoted, violent, and often bizarre stream of consciousness — on a feed that she has now deleted — has exposed lack of judgment, proportion, or good sense. It’s raised existential questions about how her campaign, or her Oscar night, can go on.

Prior to these tweets’ revelations, the SAGs seemed like a moment that, should “Emilia Pérez” win best ensemble, the film’s ascendancy could be complete.

The new Gascón revelations outdo all of these and other years’ scandals and have blown up awards season; the only possible comparison is to Will Smith storming the Oscar stage to slap Chris Rock. Then, there were about 40 minutes of tension as viewers at home waited to see how the broadcast would handle the sudden Oscar villain winning.

This year, we have more than a month–the telecast is on March 2–and a lot can happen until then.

The fortunes of “Emilia Pérez” have radically shifted, due to unbridled and unpleasant figure whose credibility has forever been tarnished.