Doja Cat apologises as celebs slam Timothée Chalamet for opera and ballet comments

It doesn’t look like Timothée Chalamet will be stepping onto a ballet stage anytime soon.

The actor has been criticised by several celebrities after remarks he made about opera and ballet resurfaced online. The comments came from a Variety interview with Matthew McConaughey.

Ok I did not hear this. This sucks pic.twitter.com/O2ZW26zHrb

— Seth Abramovitch (@SethAbramovitch) March 5, 2026

During the conversation, Chalamet said he had no interest in working in those art forms.

“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,’” he told his Interstellar co-star.

Whoopi Goldberg says the comments were “absolute disrespect”

TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET SLAMMED FOR COMMENTS ABOUT THE ARTS: ‘The View’ co-hosts and Sheryl Underwood weigh in on the Oscar nominee facing criticism for saying “no one cares” about ballet and opera. pic.twitter.com/zNSkvZVHxa

— The View (@TheView) March 9, 2026

Speaking on The View, Whoopi Goldberg had a warning for the actor.

“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 said. “You come from a dance family, so when you crap on somebody else’s art form, it doesn’t feel good,” she added.

Sunny Hostin said she felt “offended and disappointed” by the comments, especially “as a member of the Dance Theatre of Harlem.”

“I didn’t realize that he was that vapid and that shallow,” she added.

Doja Cat defended ballet and opera in a viral video

Doja Cat defends the arts of ballet & opera following Timothée Chalamet’s recent comments. pic.twitter.com/texwfiqVMM

— Pop Base (@PopBase) March 9, 2026

Doja Cat also weighed in on the debate in a TikTok video that has since been deleted. In the clip, the rapper defended the history of the art forms.

“Opera is 400 years old. Ballet is 500 years old. Somebody named Timothée Chalamet — big guy, by the way — had the nerve to say on camera that nobody cares about it,” she said.

“I’m sure you can walk into an opera theater right now, seats will be filled out, and nobody’s saying a word as the performance is going because everybody has that much respect for it. There is an etiquette around opera. There is etiquette around ballet. It’s amazing. It’s an amazing theater medium. It’s f****** beautiful.”

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She continued by arguing that a struggling industry doesn’t mean people have stopped caring.

“It doesn’t matter if the industry is having a tough time at any time — which a lot of industries have a tough time. Your industry has a tough time. My industry has a tough time. Doesn’t mean people don’t care about it.”

“Dancers care. The singers care. The audience cares. There’s still an audience. People give a f***.”

Jamie Lee Curtis and Broadway performers also criticised the remark

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A post shared by Jamie Lee Curtis (@jamieleecurtis)

Oscar-winner Jamie Lee Curtis also joined the criticism.

Broadway performer Zach McNally questioned the comment in an Instagram Story post, writing: “Why is Timothée Chalamet taking shots at opera and ballet?”

In the video, he added: “Why are any artists taking shots at any other artist in the time [when] artificial intelligence threatens literally all art forms, except performing art like plays, ballets and operas and musicals.”

Curtis reshared the post and followed it with clips celebrating performances from companies including Amsterdam’s National Opera & Ballet. She also later praised the film Sinners, and its star Michael B. Jordan, who is nominated alongside Chalamet for Best Actor at this year’s Oscars.

Doja Cat later admitted she jumped into the backlash

@dojacat♬ original sound – Doja Cat

However, Doja Cat has now said her own criticism was partly motivated by wanting to join the viral discourse. In another video, she admitted she doesn’t actually know much about opera or ballet.

“I am going to come out and say that I know nothing about opera. I know nothing about ballet. I’ve never been to a ballet. I’ve never seen an opera,” she said. “I took it upon myself yesterday to kind of give it to the man because there is a culture based around outrage and things like that and people want to feel like they’re part of something.”

“I wanted to feel like I was part of something bigger than myself. I wanted to be pat on the back the way everybody else is patting each other on the back in the comments sections. I wanted to look like a hero, and that’s what happened. And when I got it, I didn’t like it so much.”

Chalamet, who is nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars later this month, has not yet responded publicly to the backlash.

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Featured image credit: TikTok, YouTube