Doja Cat takes aim at Timothée Chalamet over his controversial ballet and opera comments
Doja Cat has some strong words for Timothée Chalamet as the actor has come under fire for his comments about the opera and ballet world.
Doja Cat has blasted Timothée Chalamet after he claimed "no one cares" about the opera or ballet.
The 30-year-old rapper has taken aim at the Hollywood star, also 30, after he insisted he wouldn't want to work in an artform that has to beg people to "keep this thing alive", comparing the idea of people not going to cinemas to the world classic disciplines.
In a TikTok video, She ranted: "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 [to say] that nobody cares about it.
"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.'
The Paint The Town Red hitmaker praised the industry as "amazing", and hyped up the commitment of the dancers.
She argued: "They [dancers] show up, they break and they bleed, every single day, just because they have respect for it. They love it."
Timothée was talking to Interstellar co-star Matthew McConaughey when they discussed the trend of movies placing their "biggest action set pieces up front.
Citing Frankenstein as an example of a popular movie that could "pull people in" without "extraordinarily fast" pacing, Timothee said: "It does take you having to wave a flag of, 'Hey, this is a serious movie,' or something, and some people do want to be entertained and quickly.
"I'm really right in the middle, Matthew. I admire people, and I've done it myself, who go on a talk show and say, 'Hey, we've got to keep movie theatres alive, we've gotta keep this genre alive,' and another part of me feels like if people want to see it, like Barbie, like Oppenheimer, they're going to go see it and go out of their way to be loud and proud about it.
"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.' All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there."
His comments have sparked widespread backlash, with the Metropolitan Opera sharing a video on TikTok featuring conductors and musicians rehearsing for a New York City opera performance, as well as staff working backstage creating sets, costumes and wigs and carrying out other duties.
The video said: "All respect to the opera (and ballet) people out there."
The clip was captioned: "This one’s for you, Timothée Chalamet… [watching eyes emoji] (sic)"
Meanwhile, the Royal Ballet and Opera urged the Wonka actor to pay them a visit to see just how powerful their performances are.
They wrote on Instagram alongside performance footage: "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."
Mezzo-soprano Deepa Johnny added: "What a disappointing take. There is nothing more impressive than the magic of live theatre, ballet and opera.
"We should be trying to uplift these art forms, these artists and come together across disciplines to do that. The impact of these mediums are long lasting and life changing."
