Timothée Chalamet found himself in hot water last week after declaring that “no one cares” about ballet and opera. The actor, in conversation with Matthew McConaughey, was speaking about the declining popularity of movie theaters when he said, “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.’ All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there.” They did not take it with respect, and now Doja Cat is standing up for them.
“Hey, by the way, opera is 400 years old, ballet is 500 years old,” Doja Cat said in a now-deleted TikTok. “Somebody named Tee-moh-tay Cha-lam-et had the nerve — big guy, by the way — had the nerve to say, on-camera, that nobody cares about it.”
The rapper continued, saying that if you walked into an opera theater right now, “seats will be filled out and nobody’s saying a word as the performance is going because everybody has that much respect for it.” Doja Cat also noted that it’s not just opera and ballet that are “having a tough time.” “Your industry has a tough time, my industry has a tough time. Doesn’t mean people don’t care about it,” she said. “People care. The dancers care, the singers care, the audience cares. There’s still an audience.”
Doja’s take might’ve been too spicy for an A-lister, considering she deleted it by Monday morning, but she is not the only one with the opinion. Calvin Royal III, a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, shared Doja’s take to his own Instagram account approvingly, writing that the ballet community was “here for it.” Amar Smalls, a dancer who co-owns a Brooklyn studio, said that people do care about ballet and opera, but tickets for “high art” are just “mad expensive.” “Considering it’s a high art, people come in their best outfits to come and see ballet,” Smalls said in a viral Instagram Reel. “Ain’t nobody dressing up to go and see Wonka.”
The organizations are getting in on the discussion, too. Shortly after Chalamet’s comments, both London’s Royal Ballet and Opera and the English National Opera extended invitations to the actor in an attempt to change his mind. The Seattle Opera even offered a discount on tickets to Carmen if you used the code “TIMOTHEE.”
Chalamet has not yet addressed the blowback he’s received from the opera and ballet communities (and Doja Cat). He probably won’t say anything about it, but I’d love to see him try to atone for his comments at this Sunday’s Oscars. Maybe he could try to execute an entrechat on the red carpet or give us a few bars from Aida. That would probably humble him enough that everyone could call it even.