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Demi Moore losing the Oscar to Mikey Madison, an actress in her 20s, felt a little on the nose.
But that is what happened. The Best Actress award at the 2025 Academy Awards went to the lead from Anora, not the lead to The Substance.
Frankly, it just felt like a continuation of The Substance. Thematically, anyway.
At the moment of the announcement, Demi Moore appeared to say something. What was it?
Mikey Madison beat Demi Moore for the coveted Best Actress Oscar
The reactions to Demi Moore losing the Oscar and Mikey Madison winning it have nothing to do with Madison or her acting. She’s excellent and she deserves her flowers.
Even her big fans are balancing excitement for her with an acknowledgment that Moore has received too little recognition for her phenomenal career.
However, many can only imagine how Moore is feeling. The Substance is, after all, about the intersection of ageism and misogyny in the entertainment industry. Now, she’s not even winning an Oscar for it.
At the moment of the announcement that Mikey Madison had won the Best Actress Oscar for Anora, Demi Moore appeared to say something. But what?
According to a lip reader for The Daily Mail, what the legendary actress said may have been a bit sarcastic.
“Demi says ‘nice,’ but she isn’t smiling when she says it,” claimed Nicola Hickling. “Her body is almost nodding like she had to force herself to say it.”
Watching Demi Moore lose to Mikey Madison has a lot of people talking
The Substance is a body horror film that follows Demi Moore’s character, an aging actress, whose career has dried up.
Out of desperation, she uses a black market drug (the titular substance) to create a younger copy of herself, but the two soon grow to resent each other. The results are catastrophic.
The film’s commentary on ageism in the entertainment industry is not subtle. At all. Watching her lose the Oscar was hard for many people. But that Demi Moore lost to 25-year-old Mikey Madison felt a little pointed.
Did Demi Moore lose because of ageism? Did she lose because of the pernicious intersection of ageism and misogyny that is only magnified in the entertainment industry?
Not necessarily. But these are factors that we cannot casually disregard.
Remember, even the most unhinged Oscars voters (folks, many of these people are absurd) likely aren’t going, “well, I’m not voting for a woman in her 60s.” Most bias of this form takes place in the unconscious.
As for the Best Actress winner …
Mikey Madison thanked the production company behind Anora and thanked Sean Baker, the director. Then, she delved into an important message related to her Oscar-winning film.
“I just want to recognize and honor the sex worker community,” she emphasized. (As it happens, the Oscars took place the night before International Sex Worker Rights Day)
“Yes, I will continue to support and be an ally,” Madison affirmed. “All of the incredible people, the women that I’ve had the privilege of meeting from that community has been one of the highlights of this incredible experience.”
Demi Moore Said WHAT When Mikey Madison Won The Oscar?! was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.