Gerrard Kaonga
Actor Timothée Chalamet caused a stir after his comments about the ballet and the opera and their popularity amongst the modern audience.
Singer Doja Cat has now hit back at actor Timothée Chalamet after he made comments about the ballet and opera that sparked controversy.
Last month Chalamet appeared on the CNN & Variety Town Hall Event last month and spoke with Matthew McConaughey about movie theatres in the modern age.
This comes as the movie theatres experience an uncertain future due to many films going straight to streaming.
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He expressed the idea that audiences wanted to be entertained quickly but there were some films that can still go on to have success.
He said: "I’m really right in the middle, Matthew. Cause I admire people, and I’ve done it myself, [who] go on a talk show and go, ‘Hey, we gotta keep movie theaters alive.
"You know, we gotta keep this genre alive.’ And another part of me feels like, if people wanna see it, like Barbie, like Oppenheimer, they’re gonna go see it and go out of their way and be loud and proud about it.
"And I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive.’ Even though it’s like, no one cares about this anymore.”
Seemingly aware his comments wouldn’t go down well with everyone, he added: “All respect to the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost 14 cents in viewership."
Doja Cat took issues with Chalamet’s comments and argued that she believes both industries are amazing.
In a TikTok clip, she said: “By the way, opera is 400 years old and ballet is 500 years old. Somebody named Timothée Chalamet, had the nerve, big guy by the way, had the nerve, on camera that nobody cares about it [opera and ballet].
“I'm pretty sure that if you went to an opera theatre right now, seats will be filled out and nobody saying a word as the performance is going on because everybody has that much respect for it.
Doja Cat comments on what Timothée Chalamet had said about ballet and opera recently. pic.twitter.com/Z2Gu1bXefd
— Doja HQ (@DojaHQs) March 8, 2026
“She added: 'They [dancers] show up, they break and they bleed, every single day, just because they have respect for it. They love it'.”
The singer wasn’t the only one to hit back at Chalamet, however.
The English National Opera offered an invitation to Chalamet on Instagram, saying they hoped he would pay them a visit so they could change his mind about the arts.
London’s Royal Ballet and Opera also took to Instagram to touch on Chalamet's comments, as they posted a video montage of their performances with the words 'We care'.
They captioned the post with: "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, @tchalamet, our doors are open."