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Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet stumbled at the finish line of awards season<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Marty Supreme <\/em>actor, who is considered a frontrunner for best actor<\/a> at this\u00a0 Sunday\u2019s Academy Awards<\/a>, is facing backlash after a clip from a recent conversation with Matthew McConaughey<\/a> surfaced online. In it, Chalamet appeared to say that \u201cno one cares\u201d about ballet or opera.<\/p>\n The remark has been spreading across social media, drawing criticism from arts organizations, performers and even his high school principal.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what happened \u2014 and what it could mean for this weekend.<\/p>\n Chalamet sat down with his Interstellar<\/em> costar at the University of Texas at Austin\u2019s Moody College of Communication on Feb. 21 for a conversation about his career and the movie industry.<\/p>\n Part of the conversation focused on the challenges theatrical films have faced in recent years, including the rise of streaming platforms and concerns that social media has shortened audience attention spans.<\/p>\n \u201cI admire people \u2014 and I’ve done it myself \u2014 who go on a talk show and say, \u2018Hey, we’ve got to keep movie theaters alive, we’ve gotta keep this genre alive,\u2019\u201d Chalamet said. \u201cAnd another part of me feels like if people want to see it, like Barbie<\/em>, like Oppenheimer<\/em>, they’re going to go see it and go out of their way to be loud and proud about it.\u201d<\/p>\n He then added, \u201cI don\u2019t want to be working in ballet or opera where it\u2019s like, \u2018Hey! Keep this thing alive,\u2019 even though no one cares about this anymore. All respect to the ballet and opera people out there \u2026 I just lost 14 cents in viewership. I\u2019m taking shots for no reason.\u201d<\/p>\n The comment \u2014 specifically the line \u201cno one cares about this anymore\u201d \u2014 is what critics have seized on.<\/p>\n While the interview took place last month, that snippet began circulating widely late Thursday and gained traction over the weekend.<\/p>\n Performing arts institutions responded quickly \u2014 many with pointed but measured rebuttals.<\/p>\n The Metropolitan Opera posted a montage<\/a> on March 5 of what goes into one of its work productions, captioning it, \u201cThis one\u2019s for you, @tchalamet\u2026\u201d The Boston Ballet said<\/a> it was giving Chalamet an \u201copportunity to change [his] mind.\u201d The English National Opera extended an invite<\/a> for free tickets. London\u2019s Royal Ballet and Opera urged<\/a> him to reconsider.<\/p>\n The Seattle Opera took a more playful approach, launching a limited-time discount code \u2014 \u201cTIMOTHEE\u201d \u2014 and adding, \u201cTimmy, you’re welcome to use it too \ud83d\udc83.\u201d<\/p>\n Individual artists were more direct. Colombian ballet dancer Fernando Monta\u00f1o shared an open letter<\/a>, saying that comparing art forms limits understanding and growth. London-based dancer Anna Yliaho wrote<\/a> that \u201conly an insecure artist tears down another discipline to elevate their own.\u201d Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard called it \u201cnarrow-minded\u201d and a \u201ccheap shot.\u201d Irish opera singer Se\u00e1n Tester described<\/a> the remarks as \u201cthe kind of reductive take you hear when popularity is mistaken for cultural value.\u201d<\/p>\n Megan Fairchild, a New York City Ballet principal, leaned into<\/a> sarcasm, saying, \u201cTimmy, I didn\u2019t realize you were a world-class dancer or opera singer who simply chose not to pursue it because acting is more popular! Ballet and opera aren\u2019t niche hobbies people opt out of for fame. They\u2019re disciplines you can only enter if you have the rare ability for them in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n The controversy made its way to Saturday Night Live<\/em>, where Colin Jost noted during \u201cWeekend Update\u201d that Chalamet was \u201cbeing criticized by major opera and ballet organizations after he said that no one cares about those art forms.\u201d His punchline? That the actor \u201cmade the comment on a press tour for his movie about … ping-pong.\u201d<\/p>\n Doja Cat also shared her take<\/a>, giving Chalamet an etiquette lesson on the art forms \u2014 and purposely mispronouncing his name in the process.<\/p>\n “Hey, by the way, opera is 400 years old. Ballet is 500 years old. Somebody named Tim, Timothy Chalamet, had the nerve, big guy by the way, had the nerve to say on camera that nobody cares about it,” Doja Cat said.<\/p>\n Deepak Marwah, the principal of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, Chalamet\u2019s performing arts alma mater, even weighed in. Marwah\u2019s open letter<\/a> expressed pride in the actor but emphasized that the school does not rank artistic disciplines.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe that if a single performance, a single note, a single brushstroke, a single movement across a stage touches even one person \u2014 it is worthy. It matters. It is very much alive,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n He added,\u00a0 \u201cWe know your heart, and we know you know better.\u201d<\/p>\n Online, the backlash has ranged from serious criticism to satire, with jokes circulating about \u201cwhich ballerina hurt Timmy in high school?<\/a>\u201d It also resurfaced past remarks from a 2019 The King<\/em> screening in which Chalamet referred to opera and ballet as \u201cdying art form[s].\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Chalamet has not publicly commented on the backlash, but it\u2019s important to note he has a connection to the dance world: His mother, Nicole Flender, and sister, Pauline Chalamet, trained at the School of American Ballet.<\/p>\n A resurfaced clip from an interview he did on the Marty Surpreme<\/em> press tour shows him talking about how his grandmother, mother and sister all danced in the New York City Ballet. He described spending time backstage at the David H. Koch Theater.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up dreaming big backstage at the Koch Theater in New York,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m like a Venn diagram of the best cultural influences of the 21st century and 20th century.\u201d<\/p>\n Gia Kourlas, dance critic for the New York Times, defended Chalamet<\/a>, saying he was speaking to mainstream visibility rather than artistic value.<\/p>\n \u201cChalamet\u2019s point wasn\u2019t that ballet and opera don\u2019t matter, but that it isn\u2019t really part of mainstream culture,\u201d Kourlas wrote. \u201cHe was dismissing these art forms\u2019 roles in our society, and is he wrong? The value of ballet and opera, and people\u2019s perception around<\/em> their value, are two different things.\u201d<\/p>\n Kourlas did add that Chalamet\u00a0 \u201cshouldn\u2019t have brought up an idea that he couldn\u2019t properly flesh out,\u201d adding, \u201dI think the look on his face shows that he knew better.\u201d<\/p>\n In short, no. Voting for the 98th Academy Awards closed on March 5 at 5 p.m. PT. The clip of Chalamet \u2014 who earned his third best actor Academy Award nomination for Marty Supreme<\/em> after nominations for A Complete Unknown <\/em>(2025) and Call Me by Your Name <\/em>(2018) \u2014<\/strong> went viral mostly after the voting window ended.<\/p>\n That has not stopped the internet from weighing in. Memes \u2014 including one widely shared post titled \u201cHow to Lose an Oscar in 10 Days\u201d<\/a> \u2014 have circulated across social media.<\/p>\n Chalamet had been viewed as a best actor frontrunner \u2014 and he may still win \u2014 but his awards momentum had already shown signs of softening pre-controversy. He recently lost at the BAFTAs (to Robert Aramayo for I Swear<\/em>) and the Actor Awards (to Michael B. Jordan for Sinners<\/em>).<\/p>\n That led award predictions to shift from Chalamet out front. Gold Derby reported that Jordan had leapfrogged<\/a> ahead in the best actor race.<\/p>\n And all of this adds an unexpected narrative twist ahead of Oscar night.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhat did he say?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What\u2019s the backlash?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Principal at Chalamet\u2019s high school even had a take<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Will it affect Chalamet\u2019s chance at the Oscars?<\/strong><\/h2>\n