Timothée Chalamet has recently fallen out of favor with the public. But this did not come out of thin air.
In a CNN and Variety town hall interview with Matthew McConaughey, Timothée Chalamet made disparaging remarks about ballet and opera, living and breathing art forms that are hundreds of years older than him.
Chalamet was talking about how movie theatres are failing and how Gen Z is more of a movie-going audience than millennials. Essentially, if young people are interested, they will go and see it. Which is a nice sentiment, but then he said this:
“And I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera, or things where it’s like ‘hey keep this thing alive’ even though it’s like – no one cares about this anymore. All respect to the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost fourteen cents in viewership, I just took shots for no reason,” said Chalamet.
It’s important to note that the initial interview was posted on YouTube on Feb. 24, but the internet did not take any notice until the first week of March. I first heard about it March 6 when everyone started chewing into Chalamet, including the Seattle Opera who offered 14% discount on Carmen tickets that weekend using promo code TIMOTHEE. Everyone was quick to share their opinions on Timothée’s comments, even Stephen Spielberg.
The outrage and backlash were bad to say the least, with Chalamet falling out of public favor a week before the Oscars. He had been tirelessly campaigning for his Safdie-directed ping-pong movie, Marty Supreme. It’s also no secret that Timothée was one of the main producers and faces of this movie. The movie’s success directly translated to his own success. For his press tour, he had taken on the persona of the character of Marty Mauser, who proved loud and selfish in the film.
It’s not so much his statement that upset people – it’s true that most people aren’t attending the opera or ballet on the regular, but that’s mostly because it’s high art that has a very niche skill set that not everyone can do or afford to see regularly. Most people also aren’t at museums every weekend, but that doesn’t mean we should stop going to them or funding them.
Another added layer of this PR disaster is that Chalamet’s family is made up of ballerinas. His grandmother, mother, and sister all performed ballet. According to People, “the actor has previously spoken about growing up backstage at New York’s Koch Theatre, where the New York City Ballet performs.” After being rightfully called out by the public, he was most likely called out in his family group chat, which may just be worse than being called out by Spielberg.
Chalamet just came off as tone-deaf and egotistical, caring more for celebrity status than artist integrity. Real artists don’t disparage other art forms, hoping that theirs won’t die. He made clear he cares more for money or accolades with the “14 cents” comment than making actual art.
Chalamet was not always this publicly egotistical, though. Earlier in his career was regarded as a “soft boy” due to his androgynous features and fashion choices, French-sounding name, and his rise to fame as Elio Perlman in Guadagnino’s “Call Me By Your Name” queer romance. His performance in this film earned him his first Oscar nomination. His fanbase during this time was predominantly young women.
One thing that endeared Chalamet to fans was his digital footprint and presence on the internet at a young age. Chalamet was known for modding Xbox controllers as a child. As a teen, he starred in a music video for his statistics class and performed Nicki Minaj for a school performance.
The internet moves fast on trends and opinions, but it typically never forgets. Like many other instances of Timothée Chalamet on the internet, this will most likely follow him. There are signs that this might haunt Chalamet longer than his PR team wants, as Club Chalamet, the most famous Timothée Chalamet fan club, is taking a break from the actor. Simone Cromer, behind the account, is choosing to focus on up-and-comer Connor Storrie of “Heated Rivalry” fame.
Marty Supreme lost every single Oscar nomination they were up for, and Timothée Chalamet was publicly mocked at the Oscars throughout the ceremony. For what it’s worth, this is probably the most the internet has ever discussed opera and ballet, so maybe Timothée Chalamet unintentionally helped to push the popularity of high art.
For comments/questions about this story, DM us on Instagram @thewhitatrowan or email [email protected]
