Timothée Chalamet has made an enemy out of ballet and opera supporters — including Doja Cat, apparently. On March 8, the rapper responded to the actor’scontroversial comments in a recent interview with Matthew McConaughey for Variety, where he insinuated that the art forms were dead. 

“I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore,’” he said. In a since-deleted TikTok video, Doja gave a brief history lesson, stating that “opera is 400 years old, ballet is 500 years old,” and called out Chalamet directly, hilariously mispronouncing his name.

“Somebody named Timothée Chalamet — big guy, by the way — had the nerve to say on camera that nobody cares about it,” she said. “I’m sure 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’s etiquette around ballet.”

Doja’s Defense

Doja described the theater mediums as “f*cking beautiful,” before acknowledging the performers who keep them going. “People go there every day to the dance studio. Dancers show up [at] 8 a.m., 6 a.m. whatever the f*** [time] they show up, and they break, and they bleed every single day just because they have respect for it,” she said. “They love what they do.”

She went on to specifically note that her and Chalamet’s industries “have a tough time” but keep going, just like ballet and opera. “Doesn’t mean people don’t care about it. Dancers care. Singers care. The audience cares,” she said, before telling him to take notes from their decorum. “You show up in a nice outfit, you sit the f*ck down and you shut the f*ck up. That’s the usual etiquette around those things. Maybe learn something from that.”

Chalamet has yet to respond to the controversy, but he caught himself in the moment. “All respect to the ballet and opera people out there,” he clarified to McConaughey. “Damn, I just took shots for no reason.” 

In a December interview, he revealed that his mom, sister, and grandmother danced for the New York City Ballet, stating, “I grew up dreaming big at the backstage at the Koch Theater.”

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Doja Cat Takes Back What She Said About Timothée Chalamet’s Opera Drama

“Sometimes I think sh*t, and then I’m like, ‘Never mind.’”by Jake Viswanath

March 12, 2026

Monica Schipper/FilmMagic/Getty Images

Doja Cat doesn’t want to be a part of an Internet ambush. The rapper is backtracking her response to Timothée Chalamet’s controversial comments about opera and ballet, where he insinuated that they were dying art forms. In a since-deleted TikTok video, she called out the actor specifically, but now, she regrets participating in the viral discourse. 

In a new TikTok video, posted on March 10, Doja clarified that she’s never seen an opera or been to the ballet, despite taking ballet for several years as a child. She gave insight into why she felt compelled to speak out about his comments. 

“I took it upon myself yesterday to ‘give it to the man’ because there is a culture based around outrage,” she said. “What I was doing yesterday was virtue signaling because… I knew Timothée’s goof-up was something that I could leverage in order for people to connect with me and f*ck with me. And it’s easy. It’s a modern way to garner clicks, likes, approval, all kinds of things.”

However, she said she didn’t give proper thought as to why she wanted to call him out until after posting her video. “I wanted to feel like I was part of something bigger than myself,” she said. “I wanted to be pat[ted] on the back the way everybody else is patting each other on the back in the comments sections. And I wanted to look like a hero, and that’s what happened.”

What Did Doja Say?

In her initial response, Doja gave a history lesson on opera and ballet before calling out “big guy” Chalamet for his comments, noting that their own industries also go through tough times, but that “doesn’t mean people don’t care about it.”

“Dancers show up [at] 8 a.m., 6 a.m. whatever the f*** [time] they show up, and they break, and they bleed every single day just because they have respect for it,” she said, before telling Chalamet to take lessons from ballet and opera’s etiquette. “You show up in a nice outfit, you sit the f*ck down and you shut the f*ck up. That’s the usual etiquette around those things.”

However, Doja was inspired to backtrack after watching another unspecified TikToker, who was more well-versed on opera and ballet but agreed with Chalamet’s perspective (albeit not the way he said it), and realizing she was acting on impulse.

“It just kind of furthers the fact that sometimes I think sh*t, and then I’m like, ‘Never mind,’” she said. “So never mind.”