On this week’s episode of “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart weighed in on Timothée Chalamet’s viral take-down of ballet and opera.
“As you are well aware, a terrible war has been raging for two weeks now,” Stewart said at the top of Monday’s show, feigning an allusion to the Iran war. “But as of last night, it is clear that opera and ballet have defeated Timothée Chalamet. No contest! A knockout! Even before they brought out prima ballerina Misty Copeland in the middle of the ‘Sinners’ performance.”
“Right in front of him! Boom!” Stewart continued. “Can’t wait to switch out my Ukrainian flag [Facebook] profile picture for the playbill to ‘Die Fledermaus.’”
During “A CNN & Variety Town Hall Event,” Chalamet said that he didn’t want theatrical movie going to end up like the “ballet or opera,” where artists want to “keep this thing alive” even though “no one cares” about it anymore. Outrage over the comment spread rapidly on social media in the days after, especially from the opera and ballet communities.
Veteran ballet dancer Copeland, who was part of this year’s “Marty Supreme” press tour, danced at Sunday’s Academy Awards during an ensemble performance of the original “Sinners” track “I Lied to You.” Copeland was one of the many performers to speak out against Chalamet’s claim that “no one cares” about the ballet or opera. In a clip shared on social media, she said that there was “a reason that the opera and ballet have been around for over 400 years,” adding that “[Chalamet] wouldn’t be an actor and have the opportunities he has as a movie star if it weren’t for opera and ballet and their relevance in that medium. So all of these mediums have a space and we shouldn’t be comparing them.”
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