Photo: Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Nothing like a common enemy to get the oomfs to circle up. Celebrities are bravely coming out as fans of the opera and ballet in reaction to Timothée Chalamet’s negging of those art forms. Chalamet was cutting it up with Matthew McConaughey for Variety/CNN last month when he denigrated them as dying and less than vital to the culture. “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive,’ even though no one cares about this anymore,” Chalamet said. “All respect to the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost 14 cents in viewership.” The 14 cents thing was unnecessary, dude.
Opera and ballet pros like Andrea Bocelli and Misty Copeland apparently feel they did not get “all respect” from Timmy. And fans of the lively arts as diverse as Doja Cat and Nathan Lane have criticized Chalamet for his remarks. You know things are bad when the main people in your corner are Fox News pundits and Karla Sofía Gascón. Below, all the celebrities going “Kill da Wabbit” mode on Timmy Tim.
On The View, Lane weighed in on the Timothée controversée. “Oh, what a schmuck,” Lane said. “It was kind of kaleidoscopic in its stupidity and insensitivity, and yet strangely telling about where we are in this country.” Lane added that operas and ballets, so far, have a longer shelf life than A24. “First of all, one should remember, people will be going to see Swan Lake and La Traviata long after someone at a dinner party says, ‘Who was Timothée Chalamet?’” he said. “It’s the show business circle of life.” Lion King reference, I get it. Lane also noted: “Why was there a town hall meeting” with McConaughey and Chalamet? And why was this “meeting of the minds” necessary? Now why is McConaughey catching strays?
Lane’s remarks were not the first time The View looked at this situation. It brought up that Chalamet’s mother, sister, and grandmother were all professional ballet dancers at one point or another. “You come from a dance family, so when you crap on somebody else’s art form, it doesn’t feel good,” Whoopi Goldberg said. Speaking of the familial component …
You really don’t want Barbara Howard disappointed in you. Speaking to People at the Time Woman of the Year gala, Sheryl Lee Ralph read the situation as a moment of acting out, rather than deeply held anti-ballet beliefs. “I think when young Timothée Chalamet spoke about ballet and all of that, he was just mad at his mother that day,” she said. “He was just mad at his sister that day. He was just mad at his aunt that day. He didn’t mean what he says, because I know that boy has loved a few ballerinas. Yes, he has.”
Karla Sofía Gascón weighs in on Timothée Chalamet’s opera-ballet controversy as she reposts meme:
“Are you a trans woman? Then don’t worry about it, Tim.
Besides, I love ballet slippers and I’ve seen The Phantom of the Opera ten times. Not sure if that counts for anything. Best… pic.twitter.com/WuC92V8i0S
— Pop Base (@PopBase) March 11, 2026
Oh good, Emilia Pérez has joined the conversation. Karla Sofía Gascón gave some support (if you want to call it that) to Chalamet during this difficult time in the press. In her Instagram Story, Gascón imagined a phone conversation between her and Timmy: “Hey Karla, do u think they gonna make me pass the red carpet at the Oscars?” she imagines Chalamet asking. “Are you a trans woman? Then don’t worry about it, Tim,” she would reply. Gascón went on to sort of defend ballet and opera by saying she loves ballet slippers and has seen The Phantom of the Opera (a musical) ten times. Noted!
A movie star saying opera and ballet are dying is the pot calling the kettle black, in Juliette Binoche’s eyes. At the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, Binoche said, “I thought cinema was a dying art.” Which seems like the anxiety Chalamet was trying to express with his needless opera bashing. Binoche then chastised all of us for caring about this. “It doesn’t matter what he’s saying. It doesn’t matter. Don’t make it big,” she said, per Variety. “What nourishes your heart and soul is what is important. You can watch a lot of films that are empty and make you dry at the end. What counts is what is nourishing your soul and life.”
Opera star/Simpsons guest star Andrew Bocelli was “surprised” to hear “fellow artist” Chalamet slamming his business. Speaking to People, Bocelli assumed Chalamet has little experience with opera and ballet. “I believe we often tend to keep our distance from what we have not yet truly encountered. Opera and ballet are art forms that have crossed centuries and continue to speak to the human heart, because they answer a deep need for beauty, truth, and emotion,” Bocelli said. “They are not arts of the past, but living languages that can still move us, make us reflect, and bring different generations together.” As Ralph noted, when it comes to ballet, distance from the art isn’t the problem.
If my art is so dead, then why did you want it on the Marty Supreme press tour, Timmy Tim? That’s the gist of Misty Copeland’s reaction to the Chalamet ballet slam. “First, I have to say that it’s very interesting that he invited me to be a part of promoting Marty Supreme with respect to my art form,” she said, according to Variety. Copeland was one of many stars to get the coveted Marty Supreme jacket, alongside Kendall Jenner and Tom Brady. “I think that it’s important that we acknowledge that, yes, this is an art form that’s not ‘popular’ and a part of pop culture as movies are, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have enduring relevance in culture,” Copeland added. “[Chalamet] wouldn’t be an actor and have the opportunities he has as a movie star if it weren’t for opera and ballet and their relevance in that medium. So all of these mediums have a space and we shouldn’t be comparing them.” But will she return the jacket?
In classic Doja Cat fashion, the rapper got into it (yuh), then got out of it (nuh). Doja Cat posted and then deleted a TikTok slamming Chalamet for his art-shaming behavior. “Hey, by the way, opera is 400 years old, ballet is 500 years old,” she said. “Somebody named Tim-oh-tay Cha-lam-et had the nerve — big guy, by the way — had the nerve to say, on-camera, that nobody cares about it.” She then backtracked, saying she posted “in the heat of the moment” and, actually, she’s never seen an opera or ballet. “I am going to come out and say that I know nothing about opera. I know nothing about ballet. I’ve never been to a ballet. I’ve never seen an opera,” she said. “What I was doing yesterday was virtue signaling, because I wanted to connect. And I knew that Timothée’s goof-up was something that I could leverage in order for people to connect with me and fuck with me.” Congrats on doing the shadow work to know when you’re being disingenuous, Doja Cat. And if you want to see an opera or ballet, the L.A. Music Center is giving people a discount with the promo code CHALAMET.
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