Bill Maher believes cancel culture plays a key role in Hollywood. His alleged evidence is Karla Sofía Gascón’s Kanye West-like tweets.

On his show, Real Time with Bill Maher, he claimed Emilia Pérez was a hot favourite to win, but the scandal its lead star had caused led to the rise of the stars of its rival film, Anora, in the best film category.

“There are people who say cancel culture isn’t a real thing, and I would say to them, ‘It just happened at the Oscars,’” the late-night host said.

“You may not think it happened, but the movie that was going to win it all was Emilia Pérez,” he noted.

Bill claimed that “Hollywood loved” the idea that they would “finally have a person, who was a trans person”, win Best Actress as Karla became the first openly trans woman to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Describing her old tweets, which sparked the scandal, he said they were “a little child”, adding, “It was a little Kanye-esque, just whatever’s on the brain comes out.”

“And then some things she said, which are just, ‘Oh yeah. You know what? I’ve said things like that.’ It’s just very, very honest. But of course, the woke community — it was way too far,” the 69-year-old noted.

“And this movie, that was going to win it all, it was the front-runner, and she was going to get all… suddenly was out to lunch. And good news for Anora. That’s what happened. So yes, cancel culture is still with us. It may just be a little more subtle,” Bill concluded.