Days after Timothée Chalamet stated that “no one cares” about ballet and opera, Doja Cat had a few choice words for the Wonka actor.
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In a recent TikTok post, the singer called out Chalamet while explaining the history of ballet and opera.
“Opera is 400 years old. Ballet is 500 years old,” she said. “Somebody named Timothée Chalamet – big guy, by the way – had the nerve to say on camera that nobody cares about it.”
She continued, “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,” Doja Cat then pointed out. “There is etiquette around ballet. It’s amazing. It’s an amazing theater medium.”
She further noted, “It’s f—ing beautiful.”
The “Paint the Town Red” hitmaker went on to praise ballet dancers and opera singers.
“People go there every day to the dance studio. Dancers show up [at] 8 a.m., 6 a.m. whatever the f— [time] they show up, and they break and they bleed every single day just because they have respect for it,” she also said. “They love it, they love what they do.”
She then added, “It doesn’t matter if the industry is having a tough time at any time. 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. People care. Dancers care. The singers care. The audience cares.”
Chalamet Continues to Face Backlash
The backlash began when Chalamet stated during a CNN & Variety Town Hall Event that he didn’t want theatrical film to end up like “ballet or opera,” noting that artists want to “keep this thing alive” even though “no one cares” about it anymore.
Following the remark, London’s Royal Ballet and Opera spoke out, writing on Instagram, “Every night at the Royal Opera House, thousands of people gather for ballet and opera. For the music. For the storytelling. For the sheer magic of live performance. If you’d like to reconsider, [Timothée Chalamet], our doors are open.”
The English National Opera also invited Chalamet to attend a performance. “We’d love to change your mind,” the organization then stated. “Free tickets on us to help you fall back in love with opera anytime xoxo.”