Timothée Chalamet continues to face intense criticism from the arts world after resurfaced comments dismissing ballet and opera as irrelevant. The 30-year-old Oscar nominee for Marty Supreme sparked outrage during a February Variety event alongside Interstellar co-star Matthew McConaughey.

Chalamet’s Controversial Remarks

Discussing efforts to sustain the film industry, Chalamet stated, “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.’” He followed up, “All respect to the ballet and opera people out there, I just lost 14 cents in viewership, I just took shots for no reason.”

The clip quickly spread across social media, drawing sharp rebukes from ballet and opera performers, rapper Doja Cat, and actress Jamie Lee Curtis.

Whoopi Goldberg Weighs In

On Tuesday’s episode of The View, Whoopi Goldberg addressed Chalamet directly: “Be careful, boy. He is a boy to me. No disrespect. You can’t say, ‘Oh, this is dumb, no disrespect.’ That’s absolute disrespect.” She highlighted his family ties to dance, noting, “You come from a dance family, so when you crap on somebody else’s art form, it doesn’t feel good.”

Chalamet’s mother and grandmother trained with the New York City Ballet, while his sister, actress Pauline Chalamet, attended the School of American Ballet.

British Opera Star’s Strong Response

British opera singer Camilla Kerslake described the remarks as “shocking and hurtful” to the arts community. “He’s Oscar-nominated, he’s had his zenith and then he decided to punch downwards,” she stated.

Kerslake, married to Strictly Come Dancing star Chris Robshaw, earned a 2010 Classic Brit Award nomination for Album of the Year and portrayed Cosette in the West End production of Les Misérables. She emphasized the grueling demands of the field: “I’ve worked across a huge section of the industry but I have never worked in any industry that’s even come close to as hard as opera stage work.”

“It’s very strange to be completely disregarded. Ballerinas break their bodies and when I’m at an opera house, I’m rehearsing for eight hours a day. It’s a very immature take. He’s 30 – he’s too old to be making these comments,” Kerslake added. She speculated, “I wonder if his mother had some stern words to say to him after that because I can’t imagine my sons – who are running around opera houses all the time – saying something disparaging about opera.”

Industry Unites in Defense

The backlash has rallied support for the arts. New York City’s Metropolitan Opera shared a video montage of its staff with the caption: “This one’s for you, Timothée Chalamet…”

A Royal Ballet and Opera spokesperson noted, “Ballet and opera have never existed in isolation, they have continually informed, inspired, and elevated other art forms.”

Kerslake tempered calls for cancellation: “I personally do not believe that he deserves to be cancelled because of this. I would like to think that he’s been educated slightly.” She viewed the uproar positively: “The only good thing to come from all of this is how galvanised the industry has been by it. The biggest opera houses in the world are posting stuff. It’s an incredibly old art form, it’s over 400 years old and it can potentially be a little bit stuffy. I feel like this has given the industry an excuse to bounce back and say, ‘Absolutely not, we’re not going to have this.’”