Members of the ballet and opera community expressed their disappointment with Timothée Chalamet following his biting comments about the cultural relevance of the art they create.
The backlash comes amid the 30-year-old actor’s ongoing awards season campaign. Timothée is nominated in the Best Actor category at the upcoming Academy Awards on March 16 for his performance in “Marty Supreme.”
Tiny Tim:
Matthew McConaughey and Timothée recently participated in a CNN and Variety town hall. The actors discussed Hollywood norms and the expectation to champion the movie theater business.
“I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera,” Chalamet said. “Things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore.’”
“All respect to the ballet and opera people out there,” he said, seeming to realize the potential blowback to his remarks. “Damn, I just took shots for no reason.”
The ballet and opera communities had thoughts:
Italian and Iranian opera and orchestral conductor Louis Lohraseb said Timothée is out of touch. He clearly doesn’t grasp “the profound human connection that only live theater — opera and ballet — can offer.”
“While his comments and opinions are, at best, misguided and, at worst, disparaging, he revealed his true ignorance when, after claiming to be sorry for belittling fellow artists, he proceeded to mock what others devote entire lives to mastering.”
Brazilian ballet dancer, Victor Caixeta, also defended ballet and opera’s legacy that has “survived for centuries,” offering a dig toward the actor, writing, “Let’s see if your movies are still being watched in 300 years,” he added.
In the wake of his recent comments, some on social media are also trolling Timothée. The ‘Dune‘ actor was spotted wearing a New York City Ballet baseball cap earlier this year. “Timothée, we’re confused,” read a post from a dance magazine on Instagram.
