Director Jacques Audiard thanked Karla Sofia Gascon, the embattled lead star of his film "Emilia Perez", as he accepted the golden BAFTA mask in the Best Film Not in the English Language category, amid the controversy over her old tweets.

"Emilia Perez", a Spanish language French musical crime film, also stars Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez.

The movie beat out Hindi-Malayalam film "All We Imagine as Light", "I’m Still Here" (Portuguese), "Kneecap" (Irish/English), and "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" (Persian) to win the honour despite Gascon's scandal.

During his speech, Audiard expressed his gratitude to the entire team, including Gascon who gave the ceremony held at London's Royal Albert Hall on Sunday a miss.

"Above all, I would like to thank all the wonderful artists who brought this film to life and who are here with us tonight.

"My dear Zoe, my dear Selena, Giorgini, Paul, Juliet, Camille, Clement, Julia and your team, but also you, my dear Karla Sofia, that I kiss. I’m deeply proud of what we achieved together. Long live 'Emilia Perez'," he added, as quoted by Variety.

Gascon has been under fire after her old tweets resurfaced which have been termed Islamophobic and racist. She even deleted her X handle after the backlash.

Audiard's vote of thanks to the actor comes weeks after the director responded to the comments of the Oscar-nominated star by calling them "hateful". "Emilia Perez" follows a Mexican cartel leader (Gascon) who enlists a lawyer (Saldana) to help the cartel leader to disappear and transition into a woman.

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