After The Ballet Took Shots From Timothée Chalamet, It Did Not Hold Back

Timothée Chalamet has been at the center of a controversy as of late, and it pertains to the arts. During one of his recent awards season conversations, Chalamet commented on the state of movie theaters and referenced what he believed to be the public’s level of interest in ballet and opera. The 2026 Oscar-nominated actor suggested that not too many people cared about those art forms at this point in time. Said sentiments have garnered Chalamet backlash, ad some notable organizations even chimed in.

Amid the wave of reactions to Chalamet’s comments, the Royal Ballet and Opera reacted on social media. In a post shared to Instagram, the company shared a video compilation of various clips from the various productions it’s put on. There were also behind-the-scenes clips of production workers helping to craft sets as well as costumes. Check out the post for yourself down below:

Overall, it appears this ad was meant to serve as a celebration of the work that’s been done by the organization. The company also directly referenced the Call Me by Your Name star in the caption:

This isn’t the only case in which patrons of either of these art forms have thrown shade at the Wonka star. Just recently, the English National Opera posted a screenshot of Chalamet’s comments to Instagram and captioned the post with, “[Timothée Chalamet], this is your official invitation. Let’s see if we can change your mind.” The Seattle Opera also referenced Chalamet while promoting Carmen on IG, offering 14% off tickets for those who used the promo code “TIMOTHEE”. They also said:

For context, Chalamet made the initial comments during a town hall conversation with Interstellar co-star (and prankster) Matthew McConaughey. During the chat, they shared thoughts on the viability of the theatrical experience. Chalamet was of two minds on the matter, as he said he “admired” those who had the “we gotta keep movie theaters alive” mentality. However, he also opined that if audiences truly wanted to go see big movies like Barbie or Oppenheimer in theaters, they would. After that, he shared this thought:

What Chalamet seemed to be referencing with the comments above was the notion that movie theaters had been declining in popularity in many respects and risked becoming more niche in time. On that note, he seemingly used the more niche nature of the ballet and opera to illustrate his point. With that, there are also those across social media who’ve come to the somewhat method actor’s defense and agreed with his rationale. People are, of course, entitled to their opinions on Chalamet’s comments one way or the other.

All of this discourse comes ahead of the Academy Awards, where Timothée Chalamet could win an Oscar for his leading role in the acclaimed sports dramedy Marty Supreme. When it comes to the ballet and opera conversation, as of this writing, Chalamet has not provided any follow-up to his comments. In the meantime, though, the debate over the merits of the A-lister’s sentiments seems to be raging on.