The New York Times Comes to Timothée Chalamet’s Defense In Operagate Scandal

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Timothée Chalamet is campaigning hard for that best actor Oscar this year. He’s nominated for his lead role in A24’s Marty Supreme — his third lead actor nomination — and, as such, he’s been doing a lot of press. Maybe too much press.

In a recent CNN and Variety town hall event with Matthew McConaughey, Chalamet, seemingly out of nowhere and for now real reason, took a shot at ballet and opera, saying “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera, or, you know, things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive.’”

McConaughey chuckled uncomfortably and Chalamet quickly added, “All respect to the ballet and opera people out there,” and said that he “took shots for no reason.”

Chalamet’s words definitely struck a nerve with the world’s ballet and opera communities, but New York Times columnist Gia Kourlas was on Chalamet’s side: “Chalamet’s point wasn’t that ballet and opera don’t matter,” she wrote, “but that it isn’t really part of mainstream culture. He was dismissing these art forms’ roles in our society, and is he wrong? The value of ballet and opera, and people’s perception around their value, are two different things.”

Sure. Okay.

“He shouldn’t have brought up an idea that he couldn’t properly flesh out,” she continued, “yet what he said wasn’t untrue. It was clearsighted, even practical. As someone from a dance family, he knows this world.

“His comments were harsh to hear, but this is the frustration of working in the fine arts. The people who care about ballet, for example, care deeply. And most of those who don’t care think of ballet through stereotypes or quick hits of dancers on TikTok.”

The irony is that Chalamet said all this while talking about the need to make movies to maintain the movie theater industry. One that an increasingly smaller and smaller portion of the population is interested in these days thanks to streaming. Even movies themselves often seem less culturally relevant than TV shows these days, and although Chalamet may have gotten his start in TV, as he told Vogue, he has no interest in returning to the small screen. No doubt he gets paid a lot more as a film actor, which is just another reason why his propping up of that particular industry over other forms of performance-based art feels a bit self-serving.

The question is, will Chalamet’s comments impact his chances at finally taking home the best actor award at this year’s Oscars? He was a front runner a few months ago, but now it looks like a race between Leonardo DiCaprio and Michael B. Jordan (with Jordan seemingly in the lead).

The truth is, Chalamet’s comments will probably have zero impact on his chances. Oscar voting closed Thursday, March 5 at 5:00pm and although Chalamet’s CNN town hall originally aired on February 21, it didn’t really start to blow up online until late last week. Maybe there are a few Academy members regretting their votes for Chalamet, but it would be surprising if enough people left voting — especially in such a major category — until the last minute. And even if they did, the Academy is not exactly known for rejecting actors on the basis of scandal, even much more dramatic and damning scandals than this one (see Casey Affleck).

At the end of the day, Chalamet was asserting Hollywood’s cultural and commercial supremacy. And it’s hard to imagine the industry’s most deeply entrenched stakeholders faulting him for that.

You can view the original article HERE.