Whoopi Goldberg on Timothee Chalamet: 'When you crap on somebody else’s art form, it doesn’t feel good'

The Marty Supreme actor has faced a backlash for his remarks about ballet and opera

Whoopi Goldberg has criticised Timothee Chalamet’s comments (Matt Crossick/PA)

Sister Act star Whoopi Goldberg and rapper Doja Cat have weighed in to the debate about ballet and opera following Timothee Chalamet’s comment that “no one cares” about the art forms.

The Marty Supreme actor, who is nominated for the best actor Oscar this weekend, has faced a backlash for his remarks.

Speaking on her talk show The View, Goldberg pointed out that Chalamet, who attended the performing arts school that Fame is based on, comes from a family of dancers.

She said: “You come from a dance family, so when you crap on somebody else’s art form, it doesn’t feel good.”

Whoopi Goldberg suggest Timothee Chalamet had been disrespectful (Tom Haines/PA)

In a conversation with actor Matthew McConaughey about the future of cinema for CNN and US outlet Variety, Chalamet said: “I admire people, and I’ve done it myself, doing a talk show about, how we’ve got to keep movie theatres alive, you know, we got to keep this genre alive.

“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, you know, things where it’s like, ‘hey, keep this thing alive’, even though no-one cares about this any more.

“All respect to the ballet and opera people out there, I just lost 14 cents in viewership, I just took shots for no reason.”

Responding to Chalamet’s 14 cents remark, Goldberg said: “You probably didn’t realise, until you said, ‘Oh, I’m in trouble,’ but then you compounded it and said, ’14 cents.’

“No, when people get mad, it’ll be a lot more than 14 cents, so be careful. I’m just saying. Be careful, boy. He is a boy to me. No disrespect.”

She continued: “Really, don’t apologise when you’ve insulted. It doesn’t sound right.”

“You can’t say, ‘Oh, this is dumb, no disrespect.’ That’s absolute disrespect.”

Doja Cat also responded to Chalamet’s comments, saying: “Opera is 400 years old, ballet is 500 years old.”

Doja Cat said several of the arts are experiencing challenges (Doug Peters/PA)

In a now-deleted TikTok, she added: “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.”

She continued: “It doesn’t matter if the industry is having a tough time at any time, which a lot of industries have a tough time.

“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.”

Opera and ballet companies on both sides of the Atlantic have also reacted to Chalamet’s remarks.

The Royal Ballet and Opera posted footage on Instagram of its craftspeople and performers and wrote: “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, [Timothee Chalamet], our doors are open.”

The English National Opera also invited Chalamet to a performance, while the Seattle Opera made headlines for offering 14% off tickets for its production of Carmen with the promo code Timothee.

The Metropolitan Opera’s official TikTok account shared a montage video of the cast and crew working hard behind the scenes on preparing for a production, captioning the clip: “All respect to the opera (and ballet) people out there.”

Representatives for Chalamet have been contacted for comment.