Internet Critics Slam Seemingly Edited Photos of Kathy Bates at the 2026 Oscars

Catherine SantinoWed, March 18, 2026 at 2:30 PM UTC

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Kathy Bates at the 98th Oscars on March 15, 2026Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty -

The internet came to Kathy Bates' defense when seemingly edited photos emerged of the star from the 2026 Oscars

A Threads user called out a designer at Vera Wang, the brand that dressed Bates for the event, for sharing the altered photos

"This is so disrespectful to Kathy Bates!" the user wrote

The internet is coming to Kathy Bates' defense after seemingly retouched photos of the actress began circulating.

In a Threads post shared on Tuesday, March 17, a user named Gina Atinuke Knight referenced a previous post by Vera Wang designer Dean M. Sonnenberg in which he celebrated the fashion house dressing the star for the 2026 Oscars. Sonnenberg's photos were originally shared on designer Vera Wang's Instagram, in conjunction with her brand. A seemingly edited photo was also included in the brand's press release announcing Bates' look for the night, as confirmed by PEOPLE.

Knight included a screenshot of Sonnenberg's post, calling the designer out for the seemingly edited images that show Bates with smoother skin and a slimmer waist. Her dress was also noticeably free of wrinkles.

"This is so disrespectful to Kathy Bates!" Knight wrote. "How you gonna edit this beautiful lady ... is she not worthy of wearing the dress without having her waist snatched and skin smoothed?"

In a follow-up post, the creator shared a GlamBOT clip of Bates showing off her baby blue satin gown with crystal embellishments. "I mean it was very unnecessary 🤷🏾‍♀️," she captioned the post.

Fellow users were in agreement with Knight, with many calling out the unfair standards placed on women in Hollywood.

"She is absolutely stunning and, as a 50yr old, I look at woman in the generations ahead of me for examples of strength," one commenter shared. "She has always been a favourite, along with Maggie Smith, Judi Dench and a handful of others. What is wrong with woman looking beautiful AND their age?"

Others responded to the assumption that the photo was edited because of the wrinkles in Bates' dress.

"Smoothing the dress is fine. Smoothing the actor is not," one wrote.

"If they dressed her — as claimed — they should’ve steamed the dress before the event, not photoshopped it after," said another.

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A third remarked, "She is gorgeous — the smoothed dress edit is genuinely creepy. Her unedited photo is stunning."

PEOPLE reached out to Vera Wang and Dean M. Sonnenberg for comment but did not hear back.

Kathy Bates at the 98th Oscars on March 15, 2026Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty

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Bates has spoken candidly about her appearance, including her 100-lb. weight loss.

The Oscar winner previously opened up about beginning her weight loss journey when she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes around 2017. “I ate because I was afraid, and I ate because it was a FU to my self-esteem,” she told PEOPLE in October 2024. But her diagnosis “scared me straight."

The first change Bates made to her lifestyle was taking a piece of advice her niece had given her about listening to her body. "When we’re full, we experience an involuntary sigh,” she explained. “I just pushed the plate away.”

The actress said she also changed her diet and started exercising.

In an interview with Variety published in September, Bates responded to accusations that her weight loss was achieved through the use of Ozempic, an FDA-approved prescription medication for people with type 2 diabetes. It's one of the brand names for semaglutide — also known as Wegovy — which works in the brain to impact satiety and is the latest Hollywood weight loss trend.

“People say, ‘Well, it was the Ozempic.’ F--- you, it was the Ozempic! It took me years to do this,” she told the outlet. “I got this diagnosis about diabetes — my father died of it; his mother died of it; one of my sisters is in peril. When they said ‘diabetes,’ I figured out what to do to slowly, over years, lose the weight.

“And then when Ozempic came along, I was able to lose the last 15 to 20 pounds and keep it off,” she added.

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”