Zoe Saldaña dedicates Emilia Pérez BAFTA win to her trans nephew

Emilia Pérez star Zoe Saldaña has dedicated her recent BAFTA Award win to her trans nephew, explaining that he's the reason why she chose to be involved with this project.

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Saldaña — who is nominated for an Oscar for playing lawyer Rita Castro in the controversial musical about a Mexican cartel leader who undergoes a transition and lives as the woman she always wanted to be — won the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress over the weekend and dedicated the prize, and her role in the film, to her trans nephew (via Variety).

Saldaña didn't mention her nephew in her actual acceptance speech on stage. Instead, she talked about dedicating this award to him in the winners' room while speaking to journalists. "One last thing that I didn't get to say on stage," she noted.

"I'm dedicating all these awards and the film Emilia Pérez to my nephew, Eli. He is the reason – they are the reason – I signed up to do this film in the first place," Saldaña noted. "So as the proud aunt of a trans life, I will always stand with my community of trans people."

While Saldaña is still the frontrunner for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, the film has lost momentum during this award season. When the film came out, it was criticized by trans critics for equating transition to death, lying, and absolution. Mexican critics also criticized the Netflix movie, arguing that it showed a stereotypical depiction of their country made by a foreign filmmaker with only one Mexican-born actress in the cast.

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The film attracted even more controversy when a flood of X posts/tweets shared by trans actress Karla Sofía Gascón came to the surface — showing offensive and hateful opinions about Muslim people, immigrants, and George Floyd.

Gascón has since apologized and deleted her X account.