In early March, in a public interview with renowned actors Timothée Chalamet and Matthew McConaughey, the former made some blunt remarks about the ballet and opera communities. “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera where it’s like ‘keep this thing alive’ even though no one cares about it anymore,” admits the 31-year-old French-American actor, “no offense to the ballet or opera communities.” This brief comment led to several weeks of online discourse, with Chalamet’s biggest haters, and even some fans turning on him to defend the wonderful artists involved in ballet and opera. It got to a point where some believed that his career had been ruined, and that the academy purposefully snubbed his latest film, Marty Supreme, at the Academy Awards in order to side with the public. The voting for the Oscars had wrapped up long before the controversy came out, however, so it’s highly unlikely that this situation had anything to do with those award losses. Plus, by popularizing this conspiracy theory, we’re minimizing the talent of those who actually won the awards.
The wide scope of the outrage in response to Chalamet’s statement has bewildered me. I’ve never seen this amount of backlash against a celebrity in such a short amount of time, even in cases where the offense is actually serious. In this case, Chalamet simply stated an opinion. His tone of voice may have come off as somewhat arrogant, and I can sympathize with anyone who felt overlooked by his flagrant disregard for the impact of these communities. I do however, see some truth in Chalamet’s core statement. Cinema, as a medium of expression, has been at risk of losing viewership for years now due to the overwhelming ease of access to streaming services. Many actors and filmmakers push for audiences to watch their projects in movie theatres. Chalamet is incorrect in certain ways; ballet is not dying. But, both ballet and opera have become less mainstream. General audiences don’t have frequent discussions on the most recent ballet and opera performances. This isn’t to say that these performances don’t happen, it’s just that tickets are expensive and the overall art form is less universally acknowledged. As of 2022, only 0.7% of US adults attended the opera, according to a survey in public participation in the arts.
Many responded online with overblown reactions and pointed jabs at the Marty Supreme star. I couldn’t help but feel a little frustrated—not in defense of Chalamet’s snarky attitude, but in frustration with how far cancel culture has come. This is a man who stated an opinion on a talk show, where the entire point is to have opinions. Rather than take the opportunity to have rational discourse about the opinion, many took it personally and shot right back at Chalamet. I continue to be surprised by how quickly people inflate a situation and defame individuals’ reputations over minute offenses. There’s a lot of really bad people in the world right now continuing to spread hatred, and a valid opinion expressed by an arrogant young actor isn’t something we should spend several weeks dedicating time to. Something that upset me was the hypocrisy within some of the responses. Some vocal opinions claimed that Chalamet’s statement belittled an art form, but then proceeded to argue that AI could replace actors within the coming years in an effort to belittle his art form. I don’t see any good in tearing down other communities in the wake of one person’s opposing opinion. Fighting fire with fire never works.
Ultimately, I found this situation to be somewhat frustrating. Chalamet could have spoken with more maturity and respect for the other forms of art. But how can we complain about celebrities being fake or feeling detached from the rest of humanity if we shut them down at any semblance of an unpopular opinion? If I’m a betting man, I’d say more than half of these “disappointed individuals” have not seen a ballet or an opera in years and years. I wish the efforts of the online celebrity watchdogs would be directed elsewhere, where imminent danger and injustice continue to live on.