Timothee Chalamet's 'ballet and opera' backlash continues as beloved gameshow fires shot
The controversy surrounding Timothée Chalamet’s comments about ballet and opera has not let up — as a beloved US game show has fired shots at him.
Timothée, who’s hotly tipped to win the Best Actor gong at the upcoming Oscars for his role in Marty Supreme, caused a stir after he said that he didn’t want to work in ballet or opera, saying that ‘no one cares’ about the ballet or opera, and that he didn’t want to work in something that you ‘have to keep alive.’
The comments have caused quite a stir from celebrities such as Whoopi Goldberg and those in opera and ballet, with US opera singer Isabel Leonard saying that Timothée’s comments ‘show a lot about his character.’
The controversy surrounding Timothée Chalamet’s comments surrounding ballet and opera have not let up — as a beloved US game show have fired shots at him. Pic: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images
The popular US game show Jeopardy! has since fired shots at Timothée on social media, sharing a clip of contestants on the show answering questions surrounding opera and ballet with ease during a round of the show.
If some may have believed such a clip to be a happy coincidence, all nuance was lost in the caption, with the show’s admins writing: ‘DON’T @ HIM’ alongside a side-eye emoji, as well as a hashtag bearing the actor’s name.
Followers of the show loved the dig, with one commenting: ‘You know you did wrong when Jeopardy is throwing shade at you.’
The actor, who’s hotly tipped to win the Best Actor Oscar on Sunday, was slammed over his comments about ballet and opera, saying that ‘nobody cares about them anymore.’ Pic: PATRICK T. FALLON / AFP via Getty Images
‘Jeopardy being a continuous reminder that intelligence is political,’ another commented, while another wrote: ‘Jeopardy to the arts: I got your back.’
Timothée made the controversial comments during an interview with Matthew McConaughey for Variety, saying that while he admires people for keeping genres alive, he wouldn’t do opera and ballet as ‘no one cares about that anymore.’
‘I admire people, and I’ve done it myself, doing a talk show about how we’ve got to keep movie theatres alive, you know, we’ve got to keep this genre alive,’ Timothée said. ‘And I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera or, you know, things where it’s like “hey, keep this thing alive,” even though no one cares about this any more.’
‘All respect to the ballet and opera people out there, I just lost 14 cents in viewership, I just took shots for no reason,’ he joked.
The comments saw backlash from opera singer Isabel Leonard, who said: ‘Honestly, I’m shocked that someone so seemingly successful can be so ineloquent and narrow-minded in his views about art while considering himself as an artist as I would only imagine one would as an actor.
‘To take cheap shots at fellow artists says more in this interview than anything else he could say. Shows a lot about his character. You don’t have to like all art but only a weak person/artist feels the need to diminish in fact, the very arts that would inspire those who are interested in slowing down, to do exactly that.’
