By Delaney Dine

Recently a clip of actor Timothee Chalamet, best known for his roles in Dune and the reboot of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, has blown up on social media from a town hall for CNN and Variety with fellow actor Matthew McConaughey while on his press tour for his movie Marty Supreme.

“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 in a video posted by Variety.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=424w9fJRgYk 

The comment has sparked harsh criticism from not just ballet companies and opera houses but from many other artists in different industries.

“I have noticed a large backlash from people on the internet, mainly on TikTok,” senior and dancer Kalynn Schaff said. “I’ve even seen a video from Doja Cat expressing her opinion about opera’s popularity, and the respect viewers show because of how much they care about these arts.”

“I’ve never seen so many people defend ballet so quickly,” Senior and member of Bellbrook High School’s theater Lizzie Visgar said.

Many people in multiple art forms felt very strongly about the disrespectful connotation that has been interpreted from it.

“While I don’t have a connection with opera music, I’ve been a dancer for 16 years and I know that ballet is the foundation of all types of dance,” Schaff said. “It is extremely important as all of the techniques we use were created from ballet steps. Most studios require a certain amount of ballet classes to perform, proving that many people care about ballet. On a more professional level, ballets such as The Nutcracker have always been very popular. People who haven’t danced a day in their life go and appreciate the work put in by the dancers. So no, I don’t think ballet is fighting to stay alive, I think it’s thriving.”

“Coming from a dancer of 12 years; dance and theater is so important,” Senior Evie Shif said. “I think any celebrity who talks bad about it or makes backhanded comments about it gives off the impression they don’t enjoy or respect the arts or the time and effort put into them.”

After making the comment, Chalamet followed up with another that people have also paid close attention to: “All respect to the ballet and opera people out there: I just lost 14 cents in viewership,” Chalamet said.

“He tried to save it but followed with another arrogant comment,” Schaff said. “Ballet and opera are some people’s entire lives and he belittled that by comparing their views to his profit.”

“I’m glad people are responding to his comment and proving it wrong,” Schaff said. “While these people in the fine arts usually don’t have much following or popularity like Timothee does, they are using their voices to support the things they love.”

“As for those who aren’t actually a part of the fine arts, I am also glad they are showing you don’t have to be a part of something to understand and enjoy it,” Schaff said. “Like Doja Cats’ video, although she isn’t a dancer or an opera singer, she’s proving this point where she understands the work dancers put in and the etiquette there is surrounding opera and ballet. I think people like Timothee need to be more open minded and aware of what is around them and appreciate it.”