Timothée Chalamet has sparked a wave of online criticism for saying that “no one cares” about opera and ballet anymore in a recent CNN and Variety town hall event with actor Matthew McConaughey.

Timothée Chalamet. Photo © Raph_PH/Wikimedia Commons

“I don’t wanna be working in ballet or opera… things where it’s like, ‘Keep this thing alive’, even though no one cares about this anymore; all respect to the ballet and opera people out there,” Chalamet said.

“All respect to the ballet and opera people out there; I just lost 14 cents in viewership.”

Spoken in the frame of a discussion about his desire to keep the medium of film alive, his commments have stirred responses from fine arts fans and organisations from around the world, including some from Australia.

On Instagram, Opera Australia fires back with a collection of opera-related memes featuring Chalamet as a tearful Elio from the final scene of Call me By Your Name, asking followers “what opera moment do you *care* about so much that it always moves you to full-body heaving, ugly tears?”

West Australia Ballet has posted a compilation of its favourite Instagram comments responding to the actor, captioned “Ballet has survived plagues, wars, revolutions and the fall of empires. We think it’ll survive Timothée too”.

West Australian Opera’s response juxtaposes Chalamet’s words with a video of pre-concert bustle and clips from its upcoming production of La Traviata.

The Australian Ballet posted a TikTok with Chalamet’s words over the bows and applause during its production of La Bayadère, writing “We might know a few hundred thousand people who disagree 🩰”

The Metropolitan Opera. The Royal Ballet and Opera, composer Eric Whitacre and New York City Ballet principal dances Megan Fairchild and Sara Mearns are amongst the artists who have also offered criticism towards Chalamet. “There’s a good lesson here for young artists, and [that’s] humility,” Whitacre said in a video posted to Instagram.

The Seattle Opera also offered a discount for its audience in response.