Host Conan O’Brien poked fun at Timothée Chalamet’s controversial recent comments about ballet and opera during his opening monologue at the Oscars tonight (March 15).
Chalamet, nominated for Best Actor at this year’s Academy Awards for his performance in the table tennis drama Marty Supreme, attracted a sizeable backlash earlier this month when he questioned the popularity of two legacy art forms: ballet and opera.
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“I don’t want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no one cares about this anymore,’” Chalamet said during a panel event at the University of Texas. “All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there.”
O’Brien, hosting the Oscars for the second consecutive year, seized the opportunity to turn Chalamet’s faux pas into a punchline.
“Security is extremely tight tonight,” he told the audience at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. “I’m told there’s concern about attacks from both the opera and ballet community.”
Check out the zinger and Chalamet’s reaction below.
Since he made his comments earlier this month, Chalamet has been criticised by numerous members of the opera and ballet communities, including opera singer Isabel Leonard, who wrote in a comment on a video of the panel event: “To take cheap shots at fellow artists says more in this interview than anything else he could say. Shows a lot about his character.”
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Ballet dancer Victor Caixeta replied that the two art forms “have survived for centuries” and questioned whether Chalamet’s films would still be watched in 300 years, while ballet choreographer and ‘Eras’ tour dancer Kam Saunders simply wrote, “Yikes”.
Meanwhile, opera icon Andrea Bocelli has responded by inviting Chalamet to one of his concerts.
On a more positive note, NME gave Chalamet’s Oscar-nominated film Marty Supreme a glowing five-star review, writing: “This is a story about living a great life, however you may define that. It is a film about living fully and without fear, a cynicism-free zone where, for all their fast-talking, people love each other so much it makes your heart feel like it’s about to burst. Talk about a smash.”
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