The 2026 Oscars is well underway, and the biggest celebrities in Hollywood have gathered at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles to celebrate the very best in the industry. While all the nominees will be going home with a seriously luxurious goodie bag, the winners have already included some of the biggest films of the last year, including KPop Demon Hunters, Frankenstein and Weapons.
But one of the biggest talking points in the run up to the 2026 Oscars has been Timothée Chalamet – whether it’s for his commitment to the Marty Supreme press tour, his Golden Globes shoutout to Kylie Jenner, or his head-to-head with Michael B Jordan for the Best Actor statuette.
However, last week Timothée found himself in hot water for his controversial comments about ballet and opera. And, as soon as the Academy Awards kicked off tonight, host Conan O’Brien addressed the backlash – and made a less than subtle reference to the viral interview. Within minutes of the show starting, the Oscars host said to the room: “I’m told there’s concern about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities. They’re just mad you left out jazz.”
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Taking the early jibe in his stride, the Marty Supreme actor was caught on camera immediately after, laughing along with his partner and Oscars date, Kylie.
In case you missed it, a clip of Timothée discussing his work went viral last week. In the chat with his Interstellar co-star Matthew McConaughey during a celebrity.land and Variety town hall last month, he said: “I admire people, and I’ve done it myself, who go on a talk show and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to keep movie theatres alive, we’ve gotta keep this genre alive.”
He added: “And another part of me feels like if people want to see it, like Barbie, like Oppenheimer, they’re going to go see it and go out of their way to be loud and proud about it. I don’t want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no one cares about this anymore.'”
Sensing his comments may not at landed, he said: “All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost 14 cents in viewership. I just took shots for no reason.”
The Oscars is currently live in the UK on ITV 1.
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