Did you have a marvelous time at Verdi’s Aida this weekend? Or instead, did you catch a performance of Swan Lake? If internet discourse is to be believed, the masses spent Saturday and Sunday supporting their local opera houses and ballet companies—specifically to stick it to one Timothée Chalamet, who put his foot in his mouth during a recent interview with Matthew McConaughey at a town hall hosted by CNN and Variety. There, the best-actor nominee said “no one cares” about opera or ballet.
“I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera, or, you know, things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive,’” Chalamet said rather glibly. Realizing in the moment that he was perhaps being too dismissive, he added, “All respect to the ballet and opera people out there,” and admitted that he “took shots for no reason.” He still compounded his trouble, though, by quipping that he probably lost the broadcast “14 cents” by dissing those communities, before breaking into a (harmless) impersonation of someone singing opera.
The conversation moved on, but the world hasn’t. Opera houses and ballet companies declared Chalamet persona non grata, offering discount codes like “Timothee” to various performances and posting emphatic, emotional pleas about the importance of their art forms. Jamie Lee Curtis reposted a video criticizing Chalamet for his comments, while Doja Cat posted one such video of her own, though she eventually deleted hers. On Monday, some of the women of The View slammed Chalamet, with one calling him “vapid” and “shallow.”
Quite frankly, everyone needs to get a grip.
Were Chalamet’s comments graceless? Sure. Inelegant? Yes. Even a bit rude and dismissive? Well, yeah. But was anything Chalamet said incorrect? Not in the slightest.
The New York Times already offered its defense of Chalamet, pointing out that Chalamet’s words—while a bit harsh—accurately represented a fact that any reasonable person would agree with: Opera and ballet are no longer a predominant part of mainstream culture. If you were to go up to strangers on the street and ask them to name four operas or ballets—let alone their four favorite operas or ballets!—many would fail the test. If you were to ask them to name relatively modern works—created, let’s say, in the 21st century—that number would most likely drop significantly.
Plenty of people really do love and cherish these art forms; I am one of them. (And I didn’t see any of you at the wonderful Heartbeat Opera production of Manon! I attended last month!) But comparing the modern-day impact of opera and ballet to that of film would be like comparing curling to NFL football.
Those attempting to dunk on Chalamet keep proving his point. People are trying to prove that the public still cherishes these art forms by sharing stills from decade-plus-old films like Pretty Woman, Center Stage, and Black Swan. (Fun fact: Those are all movies, actually.) The fine art companies that have posted anti-Chalamet commentary have heightened their profiles considerably, showing that a movie star weighing in on their art makes a tangible difference.