bitchy | Timothee Chalamet is being dragged by the opera and ballet communities

So far, the anonymous Oscar ballots are revealing something we felt happening in real time: Timothee Chalamet’s Oscar campaign was a turnoff, and people weren’t wild about Marty Supreme in the first place. I would argue that if Marty Supreme was a really good movie and Chalamet’s performance was so groundbreaking or consensus-building, his cringey campaign wouldn’t have mattered. It’s the combination of a not-great film, an annoying lead performance from Chalamet PLUS his terrible Oscar campaign – all of it worked against him and sunk his Oscar chances.

Funnier still, Chalamet is now being dragged to hell and back because of comments he recently made to CNN. In the middle of a conversation about keeping movie theaters alive, Chalamet mused: “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera 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. I just lost 14 cents in viewership.” He said that on February 24th, but it’s just in the past three days or so that his comments went viral in a bad way. Now the ballet community and opera community have joined forces to destroy Timothee Chalamet and promote their wonderful fields.

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter on Friday, a spokesperson from the U.K.’s flagship opera house countered Chalamet’s claims. The Royal Ballet and Opera said: “Ballet and opera have never existed in isolation — they have continually informed, inspired, and elevated other art forms. Their influence can be felt across theatre, film, contemporary music, fashion, and beyond. For centuries, these disciplines have shaped the way artists create and audiences experience culture, and today millions of people around the world continue to enjoy and engage with them.”

American opera singer Isabel Leonard also responded to the clip. She wrote in a comment about the Chalamet video: “Honestly, I’m shocked that someone so seemingly successful can be so ineloquent and narrow-minded in his views about art while considering himself as [an] artist as I would only imagine one would as an actor. To take cheap shots at fellow artists says more in this interview than anything else he could say. Shows a lot about his character,” she continued. “You don’t have to like all art but only a weak person/artist feels the need to diminish in fact the VERY arts that would inspire those who are interested in slowing down, to do exactly that.”

Elsewhere, Canadian opera singer Deepa Johnny called it a “disappointing take” and said: “There is nothing more impressive than the magic of live theatre, ballet and opera. We should be trying to uplift these art forms, these artists and come together across disciplines to do that.”

Irish opera singer Seán Tester posted on his Instagram to say that Chalamet’s choice of words “is the kind of reductive take you hear when popularity is mistaken for cultural value. They are not outdated art forms. They are living ones, constantly reinterpreted, constantly evolving … It’s always fascinating when artists with global platforms dismiss opera and ballet as irrelevant. Opera and ballet have survived wars … To call these art forms irrelevant says far less about the art itself than it does about how little time someone has spent truly experiencing it.”

[From THR]

All of these well-spoken clapbacks… hook it into my veins, I love it. Seán Tester’s comments are amazing, Isabel Leonard’s comments are f–king awesome. I love all of this, this is such a fun controversy!!! I love that all of these really amazing artists – especially performing artists at the top of their industries – are really letting people know that their art is still living and breathing and vital. Millions of people around the world still love ballet and opera and classical concerts. These are not “dead” art forms. I’m including some of the responses to Chalamet below, there’s so much great stuff happening.

SCREAMING pic.twitter.com/C2ghiJErf5

— Audra McDonalds Oscar Campaign Manager (@_AllThatJaz) March 7, 2026

la manera que están arrastrando a timothee chalamet 😭 pic.twitter.com/HVXd6tcXgU

— ؘjuandi (@poxelse) March 7, 2026

The Metropolitan Opera has thrown shade Timothée Chalamet’s way after the actor said “no one cares” about the ballet or opera as reason why he doesn’t work in the fields.

“This one’s for you, Timothée Chalamet…” pic.twitter.com/G6tWSPrsx9

— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) March 7, 2026

Jamie Lee Curtis took to Instagram Stories to share this video. pic.twitter.com/XETDwE1UNs

— Films to Films (@filmstofilms_) March 7, 2026

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.