Timothée Chalamet is facing backlash from ballet dancers, opera singers and performing arts fans after remarks he made during a public discussion were seen as dismissive of ballet and opera.

The Marty Supreme star was speaking with Matthew McConaughey at a Variety/CNN town hall event in Texas when the topic turned to the future of cinema and audience engagement. In the conversation, Chalamet said he wanted to help keep movie theaters and mainstream films popular and then pivoted to older performing arts by saying he didn’t want to work in “ballet or opera or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though like no one cares about this anymore.’rdblquote

While Chalamet prefaced the comment by saying “all respect to all the ballet and opera people out there,” he also joked that he had “just lost 14 cents in viewership,” acknowledging the reaction his remark might provoke.

His words quickly ignited a wave of responses from classical performing artists. Grammy-winning opera singer Isabel Leonard criticised the comment as “ineloquent and narrowminded,” saying it showed a lack of understanding and respect for other art forms.

Social media reactions also highlighted that many in the performing arts community felt Chalamet’s comments underestimated the passion and dedication behind ballet and opera, with some professionals and fans alike, defending the longtime cultural importance of those art forms.