Over the past week, a battle raged between actor Timothée Chalamet and the realm of opera and ballet following his disparaging remarks about the art forms during a town hall in Austin. Now, it seems that the debacle has come to an end.
On Monday, following Chalamet losing the Oscar for Best Actor to Sinners star Michael B. Jordan, Jon Stewart weighed in on the controversy during his Daily Show monologue. “As you are well aware, a terrible war has been raging for two weeks now,” Stewart said, pretending to reference the Iran war. “But as of last night, it is clear that opera and ballet have defeated Timothée Chalamet. No contest! A knockout! Even before they brought out prima ballerina Misty Copeland in the middle of the Sinners performance.”
“Right in front of him! Boom!” Stewart added, before joking, “Can’t wait to switch out my Ukrainian flag [Facebook] profile picture for the playbill to Die Fledermaus.”
In February, Chalamet and Matthew McConaughey took part in an Austin, Texas town hall event produced by Variety and CNN. While discussing their audience’s shortened attention spans, Chalamet commented, “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera. Things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore.’”
The actor quickly realized the ramifications of what he had just said and added, “All respect to the ballet and opera people out there. Damn, I just took shots for no reason.” Unfortunately, his comments resurfaced as the Oscars approached and many of the world’s top opera and ballet companies slammed Chalamet over his remarks.
Ballet legend Misty Copeland, who was part of Chalamet’s Marty Supreme press tour, was among the artists speaking out against the actor’s remarks. “He wouldn’t be an actor and have the opportunities he has as a movie star if it weren’t for opera and ballet,” she said during a New York event.
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On Sunday evening, Copeland was among the performers at the Oscars who recreated the “Pierce the Veil” scene from the 16-time Oscars nominated Sinners in a stunning rendition of “I Lied to You” led by Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq.
“Honored to be part of this year’s Oscars performance of ‘I Lied To You’ from Sinners. Sharing the stage with such incredible artists was a powerful reminder of how deeply music and movement are connected,” said Copeland in a social media post the day after. “Grateful to be part of a moment that celebrates the spirit of this film and the depth of Black musical storytelling.”
