Oscars 2025: What is the category fraud allegation about? Kieran Culkin - Ariana Grande controversy, explained 

Oscars 2025, the 97th Academy Awards, were held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on March 2, 2025.

Hosted by comedian Conan O'Brien, many sweeping talents took home Oscars in 2025, but as usual, the event was not without controversies and allegations.

Anora, The Brutalist, and Emilia Pérez won big at the night, with Adrien Brody bagging the award for Best Actor for The Brutalist.

Despite these deserved wins, many critics and people on social media are discussing category fraud allegations at Oscars 2025, which means placing actors in a category they do not belong to so that their chance at winning increases.

More on Category Fraud Allegations in Oscars 2025 in our story.

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Oscars 2025: Explaining the Category Fraud allegations

In an Award function, category fraud refers to actors being nominated in categories they don't belong to. This fraud occurs when people are placed in a category for a role they did not play in their respective movie/show.

At Oscars 2025, people are accusing The Academy of category fraud against three stars, Kieran Culkin, Zoe Saldaña, and Ariana Grande. All three stars were nominated for Best Supporting Actor/Actress, with Culkin and Saldaña winning the award for A Real Pain and Emilia Pérez, respectively.

Their nominations and eventual winning have sparked a discussion among media journalists and on the Internet on how awards like the Oscars place two co-leads of a movie in two different categories to increase their chance of winning. Many believe that Culkin and Saldana were actually co-leads in their respective movies, which makes their "supporting actor" nomination problematic.

If they were actually nominated for their category, Culkin would have been up against talents like Adrien Brody and Colman Domingo, which would have made his winning chances very slim. The same could be said about Saldana and Grande, who would have been up against Mikey Madison and Demi Moore with much fewer chances of winning.

In an interview with BBC, Michael Schulman, the author of Oscar Wars, explains how nominations for the lead and supporting actors work and how they are strategically placed:

"There are no official rules delineating a lead versus supporting performance, and Academy members can vote however they want."

He added:

"In practice, though, the actors and the studios choose how to position the cast, through 'For Your Consideration' ads and the like. The positioning is often strategic, so that two co-stars aren't splitting the vote, or so a semi-lead can cannonball into the supporting race."

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Reddit reactions on Oscars 2025 category fraud allegations

Many Reddit and X users are also complaining about category fraud in Oscars 2025. User u/The-Human-Disaster rightly points out that Culkin almost shared the same screen time with Jesse Eisenberg in A Real Pain, which makes him more of a co-lead than a supporting actor:

''Yes it is absolutely category fraud, based on every possible metric. He is a co-lead. He has only 4 minutes less screentime than Eisenberg. The film is pretty much about him, he is in almost every scene, the scenes he isn't in generally involve characters talking about or thinking about him.''

Another user, u/Lukkev, pointed out the history of category fraud with Oscars and how this strategic placement often becomes bizarre, as was the case with:

''Reminds me of that year when both Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield were nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Judas and the Black Messiah... real weird that one. If they were both supporting actors in that movie, then who the hell was the lead lol''

Talking about Grande's Supporting role nomination for Wicked, a user, u/shadowqueen15, rightly points out how the musical was about both the women's journey, which makes both Elphaba and Glinda equal partners and hence co-leads:

''The musical’s full title is Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz. The actresses that play Elphaba and Glinda take their bow together at the end of the stage show, and Erivo and Grande’s names pop up together in the credits. The story is about Elphaba and Glinda’s relationship and how they affect one another...''

While the "Supporting" actor definition is complicated and up for debate, many fans and critics believe that placing co-leads in supporting actor nominations lessens other talents' chances to win, who were actual supporting actors in their respective works.

Also Read: 15 funniest Oscars 2025 moments that will leave you in stitches

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