Doja Cat is backtracking on her criticism of Timothée Chalamet as outrage over his disdain for opera and ballet continues. The “Marty Supreme” Oscar nominee told Matthew McConaughey on “CNN and Variety’s Town Hall Event” that he doesn’t want movie theaters to go the way of “ballet and opera,” where he wants artists to “keep this thing alive” even though “nobody cares about those art forms anymore.”
Grammy winner Doja Cat initially scolded Chalamet in a now-deleted TikTok post, saying “people are crap” about opera and ballet. “By the way, opera has been around for 400 years, and ballet has been around for 500 years. Tim O Tay Chalam Et had the guts – he’s a big guy, by the way – to go in front of the camera and say no one cares about that… You show up in nice clothes. The usual etiquette for things like that is to sit down and be quiet. You might learn something from that.”
However, in a new TikTok video (via), Doja Cat revealed that she “doesn’t know anything about opera or ballet.” She has never even been to the theater to see either art form live. Doja Cat admitted she was simply jumping on the outrageous bandwagon with the original video.
“I’ve never been to the ballet. I’ve never been to the opera. And yesterday I decided to give it to that guy, because there’s a culture that’s based on outrageous behavior and things like that, and people want to feel like they’re a part of something. For better or for worse, they need a connection,” Doja Cat explained.
“What I was doing yesterday was a virtue-signalling act because I wanted to connect, and I knew that Timothy’s antics were something people could use to connect with me and have sex with me,” she continued. “And it’s easy. It’s a modern way of collecting clicks, likes, approvals, everything from people. So I did it yesterday and I didn’t really think about why I was doing it.”
“I don’t know anything about opera. I don’t know anything about ballet and I’ve never been to either show. And I think I just wanted a hug. I think that’s all I wanted. I wanted a hug. I wanted to feel like I was part of something bigger than myself.” I wanted to pat myself on the back, like we were patting each other on the back. And then it happened. And I realized, I didn’t really like it… It just adds to the fact that I think shit sometimes, so I don’t care.”
Chalamet’s comments have sparked widespread backlash on social media and among entertainment figures from The View’s Whoopi Goldberg to Juliette Binoche at Thessaloniki International Airport. Documentary festival. Ballet icon Misty Copeland responded by questioning why Chalamet invited her to promote “Marty Supreme.” Italian opera legend Andrea Bocelli expressed surprise at Chalamet’s diss.
“I think we tend to distance ourselves from things that we haven’t truly encountered yet,” Bocelli says. “Opera and ballet are art forms that have continued to speak to the human heart for centuries, because they respond to a deep need for beauty, truth and emotion. They are not art forms of the past, but living languages that can still move us, make us think, and connect different generations.”
Chalamet has yet to publicly comment on the backlash to his original comments.
