On Feb. 24, 2026 Timothée, Chalamet and Matthew McConaughey sat down at the University of Texas at Austin’s Moody College of Communication during a Variety and CNN Town Hall event and engaged in a conversation on a range of topics from AI, how they met and Chalamet’s work on “Marty Supreme.”
The discussion was a little more than a hour long, but there would only be one takeaway — Chalamet’s blunt comment concerning the popularity of opera and ballet.
And I don’t wanna be working in ballet or opera, or, you know, things where it’s like, hey, keep this thing alive. Even though it’s like – Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, – no one cares – yeah, yeah, yeah – about this thing anymore. All respect to the ballet and opera people out there.
In the past few weeks the clip of Chalamet’s remark has begun to resurface on social media. Now the actor has found himself in the midst of criticism from other celebrities and the ballet and opera community.
The artist Doja Cat is one of many who appeared to strongly disagree with Chalamet’s viewpoint and took to her TikTok to address his claim. In her post she emphasized the extensive history of ballet and opera and the immense respect around those artforms.
In a TikTok post on March 5, The Metropolitan Opera also called out Chalamet. The Metropolitan Opera was founded in 1883. It is home to many renowned works and artists, such as John Corigliano and William Hoffman’s “The Ghosts of Versailles” (1991) and American soprano opera singer Geraldine Farrar. However they made their distaste for Chalamet’s comment known stating:
All respect to the opera (and ballet) people out there. This one’s for you, Timothée Chalamet…
During a South by Southwest (SXSW) conference on March 13 in Austin, Texas, even Film director Steven Spielberg shared his opinion on Chalamet’s statement. Overall, many people are not pleased with Chalamet’s public disregard for each of the esteemed art forms.
However, some people are drawing attention to the underlying validity of his statement. Though opera and ballet remain influential genres, it is fair to say they are not as popular as they once were.
In a study done by JCA Performing Arts, they analyzed audience behavior and sales trends regarding performing arts centers from the 2024-25 season. Ultimately, it revealed that post-pandemic performing arts centers and operas have experienced a “slower rebound.”
While performing arts centers have seen a rise in performances and ticket sales since the 2018-19 season with 99% of performances and 95% of ticket sales, their income has seen a decrease. They reached “just 82% of 2018-19’s revenue from tickets.”
Opera has undergone an even tougher time. In 2024-25 they had 77% performances compared to 2018-19. This dramatic change comes from offering fewer performances than before COVID-19. The smaller number of performances affected both their ticket sales and income, with just 76% of ticket sales and 66% of income.
Though the conversation between Timothée Chalamet and Matthew McConaughey was a month ago, Chalamet’s comment is just now gaining criticism from the internet. This raises the question as to why the video is suddenly resurfacing.
It is not uncommon for old videos of celebrities to reappear on the internet. Oftentimes, videos that are months or even years old will regain internet attention. This trend leads to a period where that celebrity is temporarily under fire from the public, until everyone moves on to the next wave.
In Timothée Chalamet’s case, it appears that this pattern has held true. After the Oscars on March 15, people’s attention shifted to how he was snubbed of a single Oscar win. Shortly after on March 17, Warner Bros. released the official trailer for “Dune: Part Three.” Now people are highly anticipating a great acting performance from Chalamet in the movie.
The drama around Chalamet’s comment demonstrates just how quickly a celebrity can go from being loved by all, to heavily criticized and valued yet again.
What are your thoughts on Timothée Chalamet’s comments about opera and ballet? Let us know on X @VALLEYMag!
