Does Charlize Theron's Internet Run a Month Behind?

It’s been a month since OperaBalletGate, when Timothée Chalamet pissed off a lot of theatre kids by insinuating that “no one cares” about ballet and opera. Now that time has passed, the clapbacks have waned, and Michael B. Jordan walked away with the Oscar no one wanted to give to Chalamet in the first place, the general consensus has become the sobering realization of…What were we arguing about again? Why was everyone so mad? And what’s going on with Doja Cat? Alas, with most internet debates, it’s a couple of loud voices standing out among the regular folks. (That, or a bot-fueled smear campaign). Regardless, it was finally time to move on.

Wait. What’s this you’re telling me? No. NOOOOOO. Someone NEW has made a public declaration about OperaBalletGate? *Sadly erases “days without opera ballet drama” tally* Approximately 41 days after it all went down, Charlize Theron is now sharing her thoughts on Chalamet’s comments, which begs the question: Does Charlize receive her news via the Pony Express?? Or a carrier pigeon???

“Oh, boy, I hope I run into him one day,“ Theron said in an interview with the New York Times. (Is she gonna beat him up?) “That was a very reckless comment on an art form, two art forms, that we need to lift up constantly because, yes, they do have a hard time. But in 10 years, A.I. is going to be able to do Timothée’s job, but it will not be able to replace a person on a stage dancing live.” Damn, Timmy, I guess you will have to get better at rapping, ASAP! 

Theron moved to New York in her teens to study ballet, so she has some credibility in this realm. Unlike Doja Cat, who confirmed she was lying about being mad at Timmy “to garner clicks, likes, approval.” 

“We shouldn’t shit on other art forms,” Theron added. “Dance taught me discipline. It taught structure. It taught hard work. It taught me to be tough. It’s borderline abusive. There were several times that I had blood infections from blisters that just never healed. And you don’t get a day off. I’m literally talking about bleeding through your shoes. And that’s something that you have to practice every single day, the mindset of just, you don’t give up, there’s no other option, you keep going.”

Theron’s response echoes the point Chalamet was trying (and failing) to get across that got us into the whole mess in the first place. At their February town hall, Chalamet and Matthew McConaughey were sort of abstractly pondering ~cinema~, how the industry is changing, blah blah blah. So, we can all agree, at least, that our art forms are disappearing, thanks to AI and thanks to rich dudes in conference rooms. So, yes, support ballet, but also let’s not replace actors with AI. 

In the interview, Theron also told the story of the night her mother saved her life, after shooting and killing her abusive father as he attacked them both, a piece of her history she is now sharing in her advocacy against gender-based violence. “Unfortunately, this is not an isolated story,” she said. “These things are prevalent in a lot of homes. Women really get a very, very unfair shake, even in this country.”

So if Charlize’s internet just lags a few weeks behind, I’ll accept it. And in that case, I can’t wait to tell her why everyone thought Chappell Roan yelled at Jude Law’s kid in a few weeks.

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