Charlize Theron slams Timothée Chalamet for 'reckless' ballet remarks

Brendan Morrow, USA TODAYSun, April 19, 2026 at 2:34 PM UTC

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Timothée Chalamet is still under fire for his ballet comments.

In a conversation on the New York Times' "The Interview" podcast, Charlize Theron, who studied ballet early in her career, called out the "Marty Supreme" star for saying in February that "no one cares" about ballet or opera anymore.

"I hope I run into him one day," she said. "I feel like that was a very reckless comment on an art form, two art forms, that we need to lift up constantly, because, yes, they do have a hard time. But in about 10 years, I think AI is going to be able to do Timothée's job, but it will not be able to replace a person on a stage dancing, live."

The Oscar winner added, "We shouldn't s--- on other art forms. How about we start with that?"

Charlize Theron, who studied ballet early in her career, is criticizing Timothée Chalamet for his ballet comments.

Chalamet made his controversial comments during a town hall with Matthew McConaughey for Variety and CNN. While explaining that he wants film to remain a culturally significant art form, he said, "I don't want to be working in ballet or opera, or things where it's like, 'Hey, keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore,' all respect to the ballet and opera people out there."

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Timothée Chalamet roasted at Oscars: The star was ribbed for his ballet comments and went on to lose best actor

The "Dune" actor faced significant backlash for the statement, with everyone from Misty Copeland to Steven Spielberg weighing in to defend ballet and opera. During a conversation at South by Southwest festival in March, Spielberg, without mentioning Chalamet's name, pointedly remarked that the magic of strangers coming together in a room to experience art happens "in movies, it happens at concerts, and it happens in ballet and opera!"

The remarks also came up at the Oscars, where Chalamet was nominated for best actor for "Marty Supreme." In his monologue, host Conan O'Brien quipped, "Security is extremely tight tonight. I'm told there's concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities." Later in the evening, one of the best live action short film winners, Alexandre Singh, said in his speech, "We believe that art can change people's souls. Maybe it takes 10 years' time, but we can change society through art, through creativity, through theater and ballet."

Explainer: Timothée Chalamet's ballet and opera controversy

Timothee Chalamet attends CinemaCon in Las Vegas on April 14, 2026.

Theron, who trained at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York, told the New York Times that "dance is probably one of the hardest things I ever did," adding, "Dancers are superheroes."

She added that dancing "taught me discipline. It taught me structure. It taught me hard work. It taught me to be tough."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Charlize Theron calls out Timothée Chalamet for ballet comments

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