Doja Cat Reacts to Timothee Chalamet Controversy Before Oscars

2025 was a banner year for actor Timothee Chalamet, as he earned an Academy Award nomination for his role in "Marty Supreme." The nomination came after months of campaign and press work from the actor, who attempted to promote the film across a variety of audiences.

Chalamet has also spoken about the importance of the film industry at large, in an era where streaming services and social media have altered the attention spans and viewing habits of a large part of the population.

"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," the actor said in a recent CNN town hall event with Matthew McConaughey.

"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 theaters 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."

Timothee Chalamet's Controversial Comments

Chalamet then said that he doesn't want to see the film industry fall out of favor with general audiences, and compared movies to two other forms of art in the process.

"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,'" the "Dune" star said. "All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there."

Chalamet's comments were met with disapproval from many artists in those fields, and one of the biggest musicians on the planet has decided to weigh in.

“Hey, by the way, opera is 400 years old, ballet is 500 years old,” said rapper Doja Cat in a since-deleted TikTok video. “Somebody named 'Tim-oh-tay Cha-lam-et' had the nerve — big guy, by the way — had the nerve to say, on camera, that nobody cares about it.”

Doja Cat then doubled down on her defense of the slighted arts, saying "you can walk into an opera theater right now, seats will be filled out and nobody’s saying a word as the performance is going because everybody has that much respect for it."

“There is an etiquette around opera. There is etiquette around ballet. It is amazing. It’s an amazing theater medium. It’s [expletive]-ing beautiful and people go there everyday to the dance studio.”

She also addressed Chalamet's concerns around the film industry becoming more niche among audiences, saying that the same thing has happened to other performance arts over the years.

Ballet and Dance Industries Respond

"Your industry has a tough time, my industry has a tough time. Doesn’t mean people don’t care about it. People care. The dancers care, the singers care, the audience cares. There’s still an audience," said the Grammy Award winner.

The Royal Ballet and Opera responded to Chalamet, inviting him to reconsider his remarks while highlighting the efforts of their own players and performers in a social media post.

The organization also released a statement, noting that "ballet and opera have never existed in isolation — they have continually informed, inspired, and elevated other art forms. Their influence can be felt across theatre, film, contemporary music, fashion, and beyond."

Chalamet will now wait to see if his comments have an effect on the voting results for this weekend's Oscars, as he's nominated for the Best Actor award after his starring role in "Marty Supreme."