Timothée Chalamet actually helped ballet and opera with his criticism

The chief executive of the Royal Ballet and Opera (RBO) has revealed that ticket sales received an "immediate boost" following Timothée Chalamet’s controversial remarks about the art forms. The Hollywood actor faced significant backlash after claiming that "no-one cares" about ballet and opera.

Alex Beard, RBO’s chief, credited the public reaction to Chalamet’s comments for providing a substantial uplift to his institution, extending his thanks to the star.

He told The Times: "The public reaction was just fantastic. I thought it important that we didn’t issue a kind of hoity-toity response to Chalamet. We simply said ‘Take a look at what we’re doing, mate’ — for instance, the fact that the largest portion of our audience by age is 20 to 30-year-olds. And you know what? Our post got two-and-a-half million engagements and half a million shares, just on Instagram. And our ticket sales got an immediate boost. So cheers, Timmy!"

Chalamet’s original comments were made during a conversation with actor Matthew McConaughey for CNN and US outlet Variety, discussing the future of cinema. He stated: "I admire people, and I’ve done it myself, doing a talk show about, how we’ve got to keep movie theatres alive, you know, we got to keep this genre alive. Another part of me feels like, if people want to see it, like Barbie, like Oppenheimer, they’re going to go see it and go out of their way to be loud and proud about it. I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera or, you know, things where it’s like, ‘hey, keep this thing alive’, even though no-one cares about this any more. All respect to the ballet and opera people out there, I just lost 14 cents in viewership, I just took shots for no reason."

Opera and ballet companies across both sides of the Atlantic swiftly responded to Chalamet’s remarks. The Royal Ballet and Opera posted footage on Instagram showcasing its craftspeople and performers, writing: "Every night at the Royal Opera House, thousands of people gather for ballet and opera. For the music. For the storytelling. For the sheer magic of live performance. If you’d like to reconsider, (Timothee Chalamet), our doors are open."

The English National Opera also extended an invitation to Chalamet for a performance, while the Seattle Opera garnered attention for offering a 14 per cent discount on tickets for its production of Carmen, using the promo code "Timothee". The Metropolitan Opera’s official TikTok account shared a montage video of its cast and crew working diligently behind the scenes, captioning the clip: "All respect to the opera (and ballet) people out there."