Timothée Chalamet first took aim at ballet and opera years before he suggested each were dying artforms in a recent interview.
“I used to be like, no woe is me thing, but whether you’re working on movies or acting, or pursuing your thing, I began to get the sense that [movies were], like, opera or ballet or something. It’s type of like a dying artform or something,” Chalamet, 30, said in a 2019 TikTok clip that resurfaced within the wake of his latest comments.
Chalamet made those statements during a promotional screening for his 2019 movie The King. The four-time Oscar nominee cited the cultural conversation around his hit movies Call Me By Your Name and Lady Bird as proof that cinema wasn’t fading away.
TikTok user @thealienstookover explained within the caption that they reuploaded the footage to point out that Chalamet has a history of denigrating opera and ballet.
“I took this video October 1st 2019,” they wrote. “I used to be excited to see this film and we got a surprise appearance of him in our theater. Along with his recent comments about ballet and opera I wanted to ascertain on my video. I assumed I remembered him saying something different. Unfortunately I used to be confused and he’s been pondering like this for years. Such a disappointment.”
In February, Chalamet ignited debate by seemingly dismissing ballet and opera during an interview with Matthew McConaughey for Variety.
“Some people need to be entertained quickly. I’m really right in the center,” the Marty Supreme actor admitted. “Because I like people and I’ve done it myself on a chat show, [saying], ‘Hey, we gotta keep movie theaters alive. We gotta keep this genre alive.”
He added, “One other a part of me appears like, if people need to see it, like Barbie, like Oppenheimer, they’re going to go see it and exit of their solution to be loud and proud about it. I don’t need to be working in ballet or opera where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, regardless that nobody cares about this anymore.’”
Chalamet seemingly realized the shade he’d thrown because he quickly offered “all respect to the ballet and opera people on the market.”
“Rattling, I just took shots for no reason,” he joked.
Timothée Chalamet in March 2026. Amy Sussman/Getty Images
His latest comments have proven to be particularly eyebrow-raising for some because Chalamet’s mother, Nicole Flender, is a former Broadway dancer.
It didn’t take long for a few of the world’s most famed ballets and operas to answer Chalamet. The Metropolitan Opera shared clips via Instagram showcasing the expert craftwork that goes into the creation of each high-level opera performance.
Quoting Chalamet, the Met Opera replied on Thursday, March 5, “All respect to the opera (and ballet) people on the market. This one’s for you, @tchalamet.”
“He’s gonna be singing a unique tune when the live arts are all that’s left after AI takes over. Oh wait. He’s above singing a tune,” Tony winner Laura Benati quipped within the Met Opera’s comments section.
The Los Angeles Opera took a unique approach by encouraging Chalamet to return see a performance of Akhnaten during its residency in town. Meanwhile, the Royal Ballet within the U.K. posted a tribute to its dancers.
“Every night on the Royal Opera House, hundreds of individuals gather for ballet and opera. For the music. For the storytelling. For the sheer magic of live performance,” they wrote on Friday, March 6. “For those who’d wish to reconsider, @tchalamet, our doors are open. ✨#TheRoyalBallet #TheRoyalOpera #RoyalBalletAndOpera.”
Chelsea Handler just isn’t a fan of how Timothée Chalamet handled his Marty Supreme press tour. “He seemed pretty serious about winning and getting acknowledged for his great acting,” the comedian, 50, said of Chalamet, 30, during an appearance on the Tuesday, January 14, episode of Amanda Hirsch’s “Not Skinny But Not Fat” podcast. Ahead of […]
Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis, Dancing With The Stars pro Sharna Burgess and popstar Doja Cat have also shown support for the opera and ballet communities within the wake of the controversy.
“Opera is 400 years old. Ballet is 500 years old,” Doja Cat, 30, clapped back via TikTok on Sunday, March 8. “Someone named Timothée Chalamet — big guy, by the way in which — had the nerve to say on camera that no one cares about it.”
The “Agora Hills” rapper went on, “I’m sure you possibly can walk into an opera theater without delay, seats can be filled out, and no one’s saying a word because the performance goes because everybody has that much respect for it. There’s an etiquette around opera. There’s etiquette around ballet. It’s amazing. It’s a tremendous theater medium. It’s f***ing beautiful.”
Chalamet has not responded to the backlash.