Timothée Chalamet's 'No One Cares' Comment Gets a Response from the Metropolitan Opera

Charlotte PhillippFri, March 6, 2026 at 9:57 PM UTC

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Timothée Chalamet; Metropolitan Opera in New York City.Credit: Monica Schipper/WireImage; Deb Cohn-Orbach/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty -

The Metropolitan Opera is clapping back at Timothée Chalamet following his comment that "no one cares" about ballet and opera

"All respect to the opera (and ballet) people out there," the opera house quipped

"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 last month during a town hall conversation

The Metropolitan Opera is not-so-subtlety clapping back at Timothée Chalamet, following his comment that "no one cares" about ballet and opera.

In a video posted to TikTok on Thursday, March 5, the New York City opera company shared a witty comment, referencing Chalamet's Variety and CNN town hall with Matthew McConaughey in February.

"All respect to the opera (and ballet) people out there," the video stated, as clips of craftspeople working on sets, costumes and wigs, as well as conductors and musicians rehearsing, stage managers bustling about backstage and more played.

"This one’s for you, Timothée Chalamet… 👀" the caption read.

Chalamet, 30, reunited with his Interstellar costar, 56, for a conversation in front of an audience at the University of Texas at Austin on Feb. 24.

During that discussion, Chalamet and McConaughey talked about the current trend of movies placing "their biggest action set pieces up front," referencing Matt Damon's recent similar comments.

Chalamet listed Netflix's 2025 Frankenstein adaptation as an example of a popular movie that "pulled people in" without "extraordinarily fast" pacing.

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"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 Oscar-nominated actor said. "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."

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"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," Chalamet added, to laughter from the crowd.

Chalamet immediately recognized that his comments could be seen as disparaging. "I just lost 14 cents in viewership," he said with a laugh. "I just took shots for no reason."

Chalamet attends the 32nd Annual Actor Awards.Credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Outside of the Met, a number of opera and ballet performers have taken to social media to respond to Chalamet's comments.

Isabelle Leonard, a Grammy Award-winning opera singer, wrote in a comment on the video that she felt "shocked that someone so seemingly successful can be so ineloquent and narrow minded in his views about art while considering himself as artist as I would only imagine one would as an actor."

"what a disappointing take," Deepa Johnny, a Canadian mezzo-soprano opera singer, wrote in her own comment. "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."

"Ballet and Opera, my friend… Some things deserve to exist. Go see some of that," Thiago Fragoso, a popular Brazilian actor and singer, also wrote in a comment on Variety's Instagram video.

The Royal Ballet and Opera in London also put out its own statement on Instagram addressing Chalamet's comments on Friday, March 6.

"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," the company wrote, sharing a video of several performances. "If you’d like to reconsider, @tchalamet, our doors are open. ✨"

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”