Doja Cat Admits She Attacked Timothée Chalamet for ‘Clicks’ – Then Confesses She Knows Nothing About Opera or Ballet
Grammy-winning rapper Doja Cat has walked back her criticism of actor Timothée Chalamet after admitting she reacted to his comments about opera and ballet without actually knowing anything about the art forms.
The controversy began after Chalamet, while speaking with Matthew McConaughey during a CNN & Variety Town Hall, said he didn’t want movie theaters to become like “opera or ballet,” where artists try to keep the art alive even though “no one cares” about it anymore.
The remark quickly sparked backlash across social media and from figures in the arts world.
Doja Cat joined the criticism in a now-deleted TikTok video, scolding the Oscar-nominated actor and defending the centuries-old art forms.
“People give a f*** about opera and ballet,” she said in the video, noting that opera dates back roughly 400 years and ballet about 500 years.
She also mocked Chalamet directly, saying that when attending those performances, “you show up in a nice outfit, sit down and shut up.”
But a day later, the rapper posted another TikTok video taking back her criticism — and admitting she had never actually seen either art form in person.
“I’ve never been to a ballet. I’ve never seen an opera,” Doja Cat confessed.
She said her earlier video was driven by a desire to join the online outrage.
“I took it upon myself yesterday to kind of give it to the man because there is a culture based around outrage,” she said. “People want to feel like they’re part of something.”
Doja Cat admitted she was “virtue signaling” and trying to use the controversy to connect with audiences and gain attention online.
“It’s a modern way to garner clicks, likes, approval,” she explained.
The rapper said the reaction she received afterward made her reconsider.
“I wanted a hug. I wanted to feel like I was part of something bigger than myself,” she said. “And when I got it, I didn’t like it so much.”
Meanwhile, criticism of Chalamet’s remarks has continued from across the entertainment world.
On The View, Whoopi Goldberg pushed back on the idea that audiences don’t care about opera and ballet, while ballet icon Misty Copeland questioned why Chalamet had invited her to help promote his upcoming film Marty Supreme if he believed the art form was irrelevant.
Legendary Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli also weighed in, defending opera and ballet as timeless art forms.
“Opera and ballet have crossed centuries and continue to speak to the human heart,” Bocelli said. “They are not arts of the past, but living languages that can still move us.”
As of now, Chalamet has not publicly responded to the backlash over his comments.
