Doja Cat Reflects on Her Callout to Timothée Chalamet: A Moment of Virtue Signaling?
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Doja Cat has retracted her earlier comments criticizing Timothée Chalamet after the actor faced backlash for declaring that “no one cares” about opera or ballet.
In a recent TikTok video, the rapper reflected on her decision to call out Chalamet, stating, “What I was doing yesterday was virtue signaling, because I wanted to connect, and I knew that Timothée’s goof-up was something that I could leverage in order for people to connect with me and f–k with me.”
Doja admitted, “I’ve never been to a ballet. I’ve never seen an opera. And I took it upon myself yesterday to kind of give it to the man, because there is a culture based around outrage and things like that, and people want to feel like they’re part of something. It’s a need to connect, whether good or bad.”
She went on to describe the modern pursuit of social media approval as “easy,” adding, “It’s a modern way to garner clicks, likes, approval and all kinds of things like that from people. And so I did that yesterday, and I didn’t really think about why I was doing it. Am I proud of it? No.”
Responding to a comment that her prior statement about Chalamet was not necessarily incorrect, she clarified, “I’m not saying it was I’m saying I wasn’t coming from a genuine place.”
Her remarks came shortly after Chalamet, the star of Marty Supreme, made his controversial comments at a Variety and CNN town hall. He remarked, “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera or things where it’s, like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though, like, no one cares about this anymore.’”
Following Chalamet’s statement, many rallied in defense of the opera and ballet industries. In her initial response, Doja declared, “Hey, by the way, opera is 400 years old, ballet is 500 years old. Somebody named ‘Tim-ohtay’ Chalamet had the nerve — big guy, by the way — had the nerve to say, on camera, that nobody cares about it.”
She added, “It doesn’t matter if the industry is having a tough time at any time, which a lot of industries have a tough time. Your industry has a tough time, my industry has a tough time. Doesn’t mean people don’t care about it … There’s still an audience. People give a f–k.”
However, upon reflection, Doja expressed a desire to simply join the conversation and acknowledged that Chalamet’s delivery could have been more thoughtful. “It just kind of furthers the fact that sometimes I think s–t and then I’m like, ‘Never mind,’” she concluded. “So never mind.”
While Doja has tempered her comments, ballet and classical music professionals have stood firm in their defense of the art forms. Misty Copeland, a retired dancer with the American Ballet Theatre, remarked during a panel on March 8th that Chalamet’s words were noteworthy, especially considering he had invited her to promote Marty Supreme in connection with her art form.
Copeland stated, “But I think that it’s important that we acknowledge that, yes, this is an art form that’s not ‘popular’ and a part of pop culture as movies are. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have enduring relevance in culture … There’s a reason that the opera and ballet have been around for over 400 years.”
New York Philharmonic music director Gustavo Dudamel also weighed in, noting on March 10th, “Sadly, sometimes it’s a little bit of ignorance but, look, that is why we have to open more spaces for people to connect with classical music. Everybody has the right to say, but you have to do things with knowledge, with facts.”
“I think we have to say to the young generation, the opposite. It’s very funny. Cinema is a result of opera, of music, of all of these kind of things.”
Watch Doja’s TikTok below.
