Timothée Chalamet Faces Backlash After Saying ‘No One Cares’ About Opera, Ballet: ‘Words Carry Influence’
Timothée Chalamet sparked backlash online after the actor declared he had no interest “working in ballet or opera,” seemingly suggesting “no one cares” about the fine art forms.
“I don’t wanna be working in ballet or opera or, you know, things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive even though it’s like, no one cares about this thing anymore,'” Chalamet said in a now viral clip from last month’s Variety and CNN town hall. “All respect to the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost 14 cents in viewership, but um, yeah, I just took shots for no reason.”
The Oscar nominee then proceeded to do his impression of an opera singer.
While Chalamet’s comments are a couple weeks old, the footage found new life online this week, brewing controversy for the actor as opera and ballet fans denounced his comments.
The Metropolitan Opera House even hit back, writing on social media, “This one is for you, Timothée Chalamet,” before showing some of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into making one of its productions.
Additionally, Fernando Montaño, a dancer who has worked with the Royal Ballet, responded with an open letter expressing disappointment in Chalamet’s comments.
“It is important to remember that our words carry influence,” Montaño said.
Others, however, were quick to defend Chalamet (who often finds himself on the social media chopping block) for the comments, which were taken out-of-context in the clip. Rather than taking his words as a dig, they interpreted them as the actor not wanting film to be a niche and financially struggling art form like ballet and opera have become.
“That Timothee Chalament soundbyte has to be the most taken-out-of-context clip of all time,” one fan, named @ScottJeschke, wrote on X. “As with anything, cut down for internet rage. Watch what was said before, watch what was said after. He’s simply saying he doesn’t want theatrical movie-going to become a super niche artform for the upper class, and that’s not what he got into it for.”
The Chalamet debate became a strange follow-up to an online controversy surrounding fellow Oscar nominee Jessie Buckley from just a few days before, where the actress was taken to task for saying she’s not a cat person. Social media users questioned if these comments would hurt Chalamet’s chances for Best Actor and Buckley’s for Best Actress. (For the record, in Chalamet’s case, they will not, given the comments went viral after Oscar voting closed.)
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