The best-actress race has been one of the most competitive and controversial of the season, and it’s not losing steam headed into Oscar weekend. On Tuesday, Everything Everywhere All at Once’s Michelle Yeoh shared, then deleted, a Vogue article on her Instagram account which highlighted the potential “life-changing” outcome of Yeoh becoming the first-ever Asian woman to win a best actress Oscar. 

In the hours before Oscar voting closed, Yeoh shared and subsequently deleted a screenshot from a Vogue article headlined “It’s Been Over Two Decades Since We’ve Had a Non-White Best Actress Winner. Will That Change in 2023?” The story highlighted the the historical lack of diversity in the category, and Yeoh's history making SAG win, becoming the first Asian woman to take home best actress statue and only the third woman of color to ever win, after Halle Berry for Monster’s Ball in 2002, and Viola Davis for The Help in 2012 and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom in 2021. Berry remains the only non-white lead actress Oscar winner for her work in Monster's Ball. 

The now-deleted screenshot highlighted the “life-changing” possibility of a Yeoh win while also pondering whether Yeoh’s stiffest competition, Cate Blanchett, really needs to win a third career Oscar for Tár.

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“Detractors would say that Blanchett’s is the stronger performance — the acting veteran is, indisputably, incredible as the prolific conductor Lydia Tár — but it should be noted that she already has two Oscars,” read the screenshot from Yeoh’s now deleted Instagram post. “A third would perhaps confirm her status as an industry titan but, considering her expansive and unparalleled body of work, are we still in need of yet more confirmation?”

Yeoh and Blanchett are considered the front-runners in this year’s still too-close-to-call best-actress race, with Blanchett taking home top honors at the Critics Choice Awards and the BAFTAs and Yeoh triumphing at the SAG Awards and the Indie Spirit Awards.  Blanchett already has two Oscars under her belt: a best-supporting-actress for The Aviator in 2005 and best actress for Blue Jasmine in 2014.

“Meanwhile, for Yeoh, an Oscar would be life-changing: her name would forever be preceded by the phrase ‘Academy Award winner,’ and it should result in her getting meatier parts, after a decade of being criminally underused in Hollywood,” the screenshot continued. Per the Daily Beast, Yeoh’s deleted Instagram post may have violated the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “References to Other Nominees” rule. It’s unclear, though, whether referring to a piece of third-party journalism constitutes a violation.

To Leslie’s Andrea Riseborough was investigated by the Academy after a last-minute, highly calculated grassroots campaign landed her a surprise best-actress nomination. Though the Academy found “social media and outreach campaigning tactics that caused concern,” the organization ultimately determined that “the activity in question does not rise to the level that the film’s nomination should be rescinded,” and Riseborough kept her nomination. However, the Academy is reportedly considering “whether changes to the guidelines may be needed in a new era of social media and digital communication” as a result of the investigation.

For her part, Yeoh was unbothered by the Riseborough scandal. “The Academy has always prided itself on having regulations and playing by the rules, and if [cheating them] was so easy, it would have been done before,” Yeoh said after nominations were announced. “We are always evolving on how to protect our integrity, and I have great faith we will continue to do that.”

Yeoh did not immediately return Vanity Fair’s request for comment. You can see which best-actress nominee prevails when the Oscars air this Sunday, March 12, at 8 p.m. on ABC.