Timothée Chalamet caused a full-blown cultural backlash after his comments about ballet and opera during a conversation in late February.
In response to his comments, head of the Royal Ballet and Opera (RBO), Alex Beard, takes a playful swipe at the Academy-nominated actor, stating that following his comments, ticket sales have soared.
“I thought it was important that we didn’t give a hoity-toity response to Chalamet,” he tells The Times.
“We simply said, ‘Look what we’re doing, mate’ – for example the fact that the majority of our audience, by age, is 20 to 30 years old.”
Beard then adds, “And you know what? Our post got two and a half million engagements and half a million shares just on Instagram alone. And our ticket sales got an instant boost. So cheers, Timmy!”
Additionally, the Seattle Opera took a swipe at Chalamet, writing on Instagram that fans could purchase tickets to the Carmen show using the promo code “TIMOTHEE.”
“Timmy, you can use it too,” the message said.
Chalamet sparked controversy in a February conversation with Matthew McConaughey about the preservation of cinema and appeared to dismiss opera and ballet as art forms.
“I don’t want to work in ballet or opera, or in things where it says, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive even if no one cares about it anymore,’” he said, adding, “All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there.”
