Jon Stewart has become the latest voice to pile on Timothée Chalamet’s ballet and opera controversy, and he waited until the dust from the Oscars had barely settled to deliver his verdict.
In his first Daily Show broadcast following the ceremony, Stewart declared the matter conclusively resolved.
“As of last night, it is clear that opera and ballet have defeated Timothée Chalamet,” he said, after Chalamet lost the Best Actor race to Sinners star Michael B. Jordan.
“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. So, opera and ballet!”
It was a neat summary of a internet frenzy and star battle that has now been running for some time now.
The trouble started when Chalamet, speaking at a town hall event, said he had no desire to work in art forms like ballet or opera where the pitch was essentially keeping something alive that nobody cares about anymore.
The backlash was swift and sustained, ballet and opera companies sent him show invitations, peers lined up to criticise him, and the story fed the online commentary machine for days on end.
By the time the Oscars came around on 15 March, the controversy had become part of the ceremony’s fabric.
Host Conan O’Brien addressed it in his opening monologue, joking that security was tight due to concerns about attacks from the ballet and opera communities.
Copeland’s appearance during the Sinners musical number, she had been among the most prominent voices to publicly criticise Chalamet, gave the evening an extra layer of symbolism that was hard to miss.
