March 8, 2026
"No One Cares"; 3 Words Timothée Chalamet Might Want To Take Back
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RSS Feed Actor Timothée Chalamet has pissed off the ballet and opera community after a comment he made during a town hall event. Chalamet said he didn’t want to end working in ballet or opera where artists are trying to keeps something alive that no one cares about anymore. The backlash has been swift and fierce, with some artists calling Chalamet’s character into question.
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00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks say is Sunday, March eighth, one week away, possibly from Timothy shallow May picking up an oscar for Best Actor. But before he gets to that stage, he is going to have to get through some pissed off ballet dancers and opera singers. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:00:33
Speaker 2: Roapes.
00:00:33
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how they're coming after Timothy's shallo May. This is a this is a beef in the arts. Is this what it looks like?
00:00:41
Speaker 2: Yes? Unfortunately, Look, I believe he said these comments a couple of weeks ago, but they have just been trickling out and now it's reached a fever pitch. And this is a very important time for any actor who is leading up to the Oscars. Of course, they're on these campaign pitches and they're out there and they're doing interviews because they're revving up excitement about their movie that's been nominated or their role that's been nominated. And Timothy s Challomay was just shooting it with Matthew McConaughey and at town Hall and maybe just was a little too unguarded.
00:01:17
Speaker 1: Well, it was in articulate, it was not well thought out. But it's not the end of the world. But it is. If you listen to a lot of folks in the arts, we get it. So so back up here, you've probably seen a lot of the headlines. I think some of these things are cool. I haven't watched them, but some of the pairings are cool. Variety started putting actors together. It's called actors on actors, right. There have been some cool pairings that I've seen that I haven't stopped and watched any of them, but it looks what Adam Sandler and Ariana Grande did one together. I remember the images, but this is what this was. Timothy Chalamey and Matthew mcconnie. That's kind of a cool pairing as well.
00:01:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it because when you have someone who has been through it, or who knows what you've been through, there's just a level of trust and a conversation that can be at a different level than when it's from a journalist or somebody who's trying to get answers. There's a comfort level, there's a trust level, and you end up getting really fascinating conversations because everyone feels comfortable. The problem is when you feel comfortable, maybe you say things that aren't politically correct.
00:02:18
Speaker 1: And look, this is the first one I've seen Robes that they had a studio audience for. They set this one up kind of as a town hall. Yes, these actors are a big enough deal that you would do that, So it was very casual in this whole setup. Now, Robes, you heard the comments. I think a lot of people have probably more read the comments than listen to them. We're going to let you all hear them here in just a second. It's a fifty eight second clip. We'll give you the right context. Let me get your opinion first of all, Robes, just in hearing the whole thing and the whole context, is the uproar, the criticism, the outrage to a certain degree warranted.
00:02:55
Speaker 2: I don't think so. I think people need to take themselves a little less seriously and recognize that everyone is entitled to an opinion, and it's okay even if it's a fact that ballet audiences and opera audiences might be dwindling. Look, I don't know the numbers. I don't know what it's relative to. I know that I love the show The Gilded Age, where everything is about the opera and when the met came about, and that was the big highlight of the week, The big social event of the week was to go to the opera. Times have changed, and I think he was referencing changing times, changing behavior. And really they were specifically talking about the attention span of younger audiences, how movies are getting shorter, and talking about dying brands of art. I understand it in the context. He was being honest and he had some facts to back up what he was saying. For folks to get so upset in the opera and ballet communities, Look, that's one of those things where when you get triggered, you have to, instead of being upset about the person who said something, ask yourselves why you took such offense to it. Why was that so offensive to you? Why were you so triggered? I think both sides need to ask themselves some questions.
00:04:04
Speaker 1: That is okay when you put it that, that is a very diplomatic and therapeutic way to look at this whole situation. You're right, he struck the nerve robes because he said something that's actually probably right. He said it in the wrong way. Now, I will say he and he didn't have to mention. This had nothing to do, but he made a point and he used ballet and opera to make it, and they probably don't appreciate being that example for what he was saying.
00:04:35
Speaker 2: And I think also to your point, I think where you were going with is Timothy Chalomay is at the top of his game. He is the it boy, he is the goat. He is just kind of everything. So when you're on top of your mountain, you have to be very careful not to take shots at people who might be in valley.
00:04:55
Speaker 3: You know what.
00:04:55
Speaker 1: Let's let you hear it and we'll get her on the other side here. But this is him sitting talking to Matthew McConaughey. They have a small studio audience around them. Again, the conversation was about how I mean they were actually saying Act two's are moving up. They're making a point about movies and shows that producers and studios don't. They say, people have short attention spans, so we don't have time for building the story with an act one. We got to get right to the action in act two. That was the setup to this conversation. He was making the point and I think is a good one robes that if you have a higher piece of art, that if you have a very serious movie, you almost have to promote it as such and let people know what you're going into otherwise you'll lose.
00:05:41
Speaker 2: Them, correct, And I think that is a fair way to look at it. We see our kids, We see everybody with these short attention spans. They won't even finish a song. My daughters will move on because they're like, eh, I'm done with this song. You look and see how people scroll. You watch half a video on board now swipe up, And that is absolutely translated to what people will and won't go sit through at a movie theater, let alone a live theater event.
00:06:05
Speaker 1: So he's making a point about his career and moving forward. Do I want to be a guy who's doing these more serious things and trying to keep an art alive or keep a movie theater alive. That is the context for the conversation. And this, though, is the comment and the answer that you got mister Timothy Jaalam in Trouble No.
00:06:27
Speaker 3: But point being, I think, even like Frankenstein, which is like a hugely popular movie this year, I didn't think that pacing was extraordinarily fast or anything, but it pulled people in, you know, but it does take you having a wave of flag of hey, this is a serious movie or something, and some people want to be entertained and quickly. I'm really right in the middle of Matthew because I admire people and I've done it myself. Do you want to talk to about, Hey, we got to keep movie theaters alive, you know, we got to keep this genre alive. And 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 of about it. And 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 he cares about this, all respect to the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost fourteen cents in viewership. But I just took shots for no reason.
00:07:19
Speaker 1: That's no shot.
00:07:19
Speaker 3: I hear what you say.
00:07:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, so okay, you see where he realized he misspoke, He got uncomfortable, He did a fake little opera singing at the end. There. The fourteen cents was a low blow. That was a shot he shouldn't have said that, correct, Now, that's the one I would say you should probably apologize. But that's the one that was a shot.
00:07:44
Speaker 2: I thought, can I can I tell you something funny about that specific moment. I Look, we'll get into all the response, and there has been a tremendous amount of it. But the one I really appreciated came from the Seattle Opera. They're offering fourteen percent off tickets for its production of Carmen. If you use the promo code, Timothy, that is.
00:08:02
Speaker 1: How you respond. That is the right way to respond. They had fun with it. Who is there's another one that invited him to a show giving her tickets. Right, That is how you go about it, Seattle.
00:08:13
Speaker 2: Right.
00:08:14
Speaker 1: I applaud you all for doing it. People are talking about ballet and opera right now in a way that they don't get it. Take advantage of the moment, Take advantage by being fun, making fun of your soulful of being self deprecating, understanding how gets extending an invitation, robes and the reactions you're talking about, going after him personally, going after his character. This is the kind of person he is. You need to apologize to your mother. These are the high profile people. I'm not even talking about regular responses his mother.
00:08:47
Speaker 2: To that point, his mother was a ballet performer.
00:08:51
Speaker 1: His family, he knows.
00:08:54
Speaker 2: Look, there's a part of it. Yes, I loved the tongue in cheek and I liked what you said. Take advantage of a moment where people are talking about ballet and opera. When's the last time people in the mainstream have been talking about ballet or opera. So look at it as an opportunity, a way for it to now be something people are maybe either rediscovering or looking at for the very first time, because there needs to be an acknowledgment. This isn't some big art form that people talk about going to often.
00:09:24
Speaker 1: Look, we went to have access to by the way, correct.
00:09:28
Speaker 2: I actually got tickets to the Met for the first time when Annie was still in high school. It was an auction and you and I went. Is the first time I'd ever been to the opera in my life. You and I both went and had one of the best times of our lives.
00:09:43
Speaker 1: And it happened to be a opera we didn't know that.
00:09:46
Speaker 2: We didn't know I was and it was the first black opera. Correct, Met, It was amazing. But the point being, we we live in New York City, we can afford tickets, We are exposed to the arts, and you and I had never been in my adult life or at any point in my life, I've never been invited to the opera. I never even thought about going to the opera, to be honest. So this is an option and an opportunity for people to actually be exposed to something. Look at it from that perspective and acknowledge it isn't on the forefront of most people's minds when they think about what they want to do for.
00:10:18
Speaker 1: The weekend, and what do most people maybe think about it when they think about ballet and opera something that's not within my reach, not just as a matter of getting there paying to get there, but it seems, quite frankly, robes something for the elites.
00:10:34
Speaker 2: It does because it has been because.
00:10:35
Speaker 1: This isn't for me. This isn't something I'm invited to or welcome to, or this isn't something that comes to my neighborhood. And all the people on stage don't look like me. Thank you, Missy Copeland. Right, That's why she was such a big deal and a mainstream artist, because she looked different and she made it more relatable. So it doesn't help in my opinion. Robes. In some of these answers and responses to Timothy Shallow, may I look and go, oh, they are elites.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: And it's so funny because they're calling him an elitist.
00:11:10
Speaker 1: Hey, wait what some of the responses you have to leave room, Robes. The talent of these folks is leus, to be clear, is off the course freaking charts. And they have been at this, most of them since they were babies. We respect that and always want to respect that art. Robes. It doesn't it now certainly doesn't seem like a place that most of us would be welcome unless you what we have to talk about it the exact way we can respect and can't we respect that art but also the respect there's a reality to it as well.
00:11:49
Speaker 2: Right, Yes, And I think that's the point. They're out of touch with reality in the sense that they're what he said isn't untrue, and so why not take it, have a conversation about it, and try to find a way to be more inclusive and to make it more relevant and to have it be a part of something that folks feel like Hey, this could be fun to be exposed to. And here's why it's cool. Today people think of it as a lost art form one hundred percent, as something of days before, and also to your point, just completely inaccessible and not something that is even considered, and it isn't. It doesn't have anything to do with the talent, the hard work, the beauty, the table the respect of the art form, which is all of the above. So yeah, this has taking a turn that is unfortunate for everybody. It's unfortunate for Timothy Shalomey. It's unfortunate for the ballet and opera world as well, because mostly because of the reaction to Chala May's comments.
00:12:44
Speaker 1: And let's start with I think the New York the Met kind of got the ball rolling in a major way. And I didn't think what they put out was necessarily negative or going after him. But they put a video rogues not highlighting the performers, but highlighting the people behind the scenes and all the work that goes into preparing for a show and say, hey, Timothy, this one's for you. I get that, but he wasn't taking a shot at those folks. I get that one wasn't so bad, but he wasn't taking a shot at them, but that kind of got things going in robes. From there, it seemed like every opera house from here across the pond and all some of the biggest names in that world started to responding yes.
00:13:24
Speaker 2: And the reaction has been swift. It's been fierce, fierce. Even SNL took a shot at Chalo May as well on Saturday Night Live last night, actually, which I was kind of surprised, but they made a point to make a joke saying Timothy Chalomey has been criticized by major opera and ballet organizations after he said no one cares about those art forms. Well, then they said Chalomey made the comment on a press tour for his movie about Ping Pong, and then they all started laughing, so you know, they gave a little perspective and their point of view.
00:13:57
Speaker 1: It's this whole conversation is making the point that he was making in that we we don't value the arts. That's true, we don't. Everybody we agree. He made that point in a way that offended you, but he's making a point that we all agree with. Case endpoint. Exhibit A. A guy from a movie just mentions your art and you're getting more pressed than you have in the past year. That is how little we value your art versus his art. That's the point. He said it wrong. Let's have that conversation, please.
00:14:39
Speaker 2: That's such a good way to put it. He did. It wasn't a well thought out response. I will say though, it's interesting now. People are of course all everybody wants to jump on and pile on and find someone to blame because we don't want to talk about maybe what should be discussed about how we can value the arts better, how we can have a more inclusive community. Let's just completely throw whatever we can on Timothy Shalome And people are digging up other interviews that he's given in the past. He has referenced this before. This isn't the first time he's talked about opera or ballet being a dead art form. He has said it multiple times in multiple interviews. For some reason, this time was his undoing.
00:15:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, people don't like it being said that away. Certainly, people who are working and thriving, even very successful in those arts, see it differently. He didn't have the numbers. He didn't have right, if he'd come with some facts to back it, up. Maybe they would have helped him out. But stay here, folks. We'll let you hear some of these words again from folks who are going after him, saying he should apologize to his mother. Folks are saying this shows everything about his character. Even stay here, all right, we continue here on this Sunday, a week from Oscar Sunday. Right, I got that right. Timothy Shallow may might be walking across that stage to win an Oscar for Best Actor. I hope he does a little ballet move as it goes across.
00:16:14
Speaker 2: You know. I wonder what he seriously though. I mean, that would actually be kind of awesome, be perfect. But he's gonna walk the red carpet. I would imagine he's going to get asked about this by virtually every Maybe some people will be respectful and the excitement of the day and they'll back away. But I wouldn't be surprised if someone goes there and calls him out and asks him.
00:16:34
Speaker 1: About it, and maybe he has a better answer for maybe he says it in a more articulate way. Maybe whatever it may be, but the story is what it is. When the first thing that got me, I just sometimes it feels not necessarily authentic when it comes from certain area, it feels like we're just taking advantage of a moment and to beat up on the kid because we have the attention right now and we can. Some of it felt that way and some didn't. I think you can genuinely be offended by what he said and hate the you know, almost make your shoulders go down a little bit. You're slunk down in your seat, like, oh, this is the thing I dedicate my life to. And a guy who's a really big deal just pointed out that my art isn't a big deal. That stings like, hell.
00:17:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you know. If he had said, you know, the dying art form hit a nerve, But to say no one cares, that's that's tough. And he was being flippant. I mean, he's in his twenties, his early twenties. He's he's old enough to probably know better, but you could also say young enough to not recognize how one missed way of describing something can set off a whole chain of events.
00:17:43
Speaker 1: And we should say he does not get in trouble as much as he is very much publican out there and then MA cameras in his face, dating a Kardashian and he has stayed fairly clean, has he not contramarkable?
00:17:56
Speaker 2: But yes, and look, I think it's so important to say everybody calmed down the ballet and opera world. I think again, you can just you can be offended, you can be sad, you can feel like, wow, he really went there, and then maybe think, Okay, let's do better at marketing ourselves. Let's do better at bringing this to the world in a different way where people don't feel like it's out of reach and out of touch. Perhaps and not with the times there are. This is an opportunity and not one necessarily to throw stones across the way and to go to start pointing fingers. That's when it gets ugly. But yes, even the roy then they start going into defense mode about how important ballet and opera is and that also isn't maybe necessarily gonna land the way they want it to.
00:18:43
Speaker 1: Who's the audience for it, exactly, I would ask. I mean it might be their own audience. They're in their own world, and that is also okay. Royal Ballet and Opera coming out with this saying ballet and opera have never existed in isolation. They have continually informed, inspired, and elevated other art forms. Their influence can be felt across theater, film, contemporary music, fashion, and beyond. For centuries, these disciplines have shaped the way artists create an audience experienced culture, and today millions of people around the world continue to enjoy and engage with them. Well done, fine that it's always worth pointing out the Royal ballet and opera. I have not looked at your website in years, and I am now paying attention. That's a good thing to remind us all of that. I like that statement.
00:19:28
Speaker 2: I do too, and it's just yes, it's an opportunity. They took advantage of it to talk about how wonderful opera and ballet are. Great. Opera, tonight wrote, opera has been around since the sixteenth century and is still alive and well today. They later added this, what a shame, This is just Timothy Chalome. What a shame that you don't have respect.
00:19:48
Speaker 1: For other art forms?
00:19:49
Speaker 2: Its top Okay, it's a little spanking right there. Oh, you don't have unnecessary unnecessary.
00:19:55
Speaker 1: That's how they feel. They feel they know him well enough to know he doesn't respect any other art form other than movie star.
00:20:05
Speaker 2: Okay, okay. Isabelle Leonard big, big big.
00:20:10
Speaker 1: She's a Grammy winner, three time Grammy winner, operation singly. Yeah, she is a big deal.
00:20:14
Speaker 2: So she went there.
00:20:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, this was strong, she said.
00:20:19
Speaker 2: Honestly, I'm shocked that someone so seemingly successful can be so ineloquent and narrow minded in his views about art while considering himself as an artist. I would only imagine one would as an actor to take cheap shots at fellow artists, says more in this interview than anything else he could say, shows a lot about his character. You don't have to like all art, but only a weak person artist feels the need to diminish, in fact, the very arts that would inspire those who are interested in slowing down to do exactly that.
00:20:53
Speaker 1: I didn't understand that last part. It was a little ineloquent, she might say, but I didn't understand what she was saying.
00:20:59
Speaker 2: It is interesting, do you think when people take shots that other people don't recognizing that they're actually taking shots for the exact same reasons the other person did so to call him weak for taking a shot at an artist, that is exactly what she is doing right back to him. I just always think It's interesting in those moments where you can't even see that your reaction is actually on the same.
00:21:20
Speaker 1: Level and to what you're saying here, I am I am focused on it because she actually wrote it down. This wasn't right. I don't think she wrote this out, So there's no other way to kind of interpret or whatever. It is the point she is calling him the exact thing she's complaining about being called exactly. So what do we do ro This is the problem. And some of these are where it's difficult in these who gets to be the adult who gets to if someone does something wrong? Can you meet them not at that wrong level, but up a little bit and possibly elevate them up with you? Is it possible? We don't have to go down and meet Timothy where he is. Let's bring him up a little bit and elevate the conversation because it she took it down.
00:22:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh she was. She was hurt. She was angry and hurt. People hurt, and that's exactly what she did. And he wasn't meaning to personally offend or hurt any of these folks. That is that is absolutely true. He was trying to make a point about attention spans dwindling audiences and wanting to be with with where future trends are versus staying in the past, where we hold on to certain things because we want them to stay the same.
00:22:32
Speaker 1: He said it the wrong way. He said it the wrong absolutely.
00:22:34
Speaker 2: So couldn't she have just been like I know that in his heart, he couldn't have meant what he said. I recognize we have some work to do on getting the word out about how beautiful opera is. Like you could just have taken that stance.
00:22:47
Speaker 1: Or didn't have to go she had to say I'm pissed and that hurt. If you would have said that, I would have gone, Okay, I feel you and that sister. Yeah, she attacked him. She attacked his character, She attacked who he is, She attacked his passion, She had attacked his art. Right, he just made a slip. She had a second to hit delete.
00:23:06
Speaker 2: I thought you made such a good point that I had not thought about. Timothy Chalome was talking. And when you talk and you're on a you got a microphone on, you're talking to a bud. Yes there were cameras, Yes there was a live audience. But you might you might say things that you regret or you didn't mean to say it a certain way. When you type something, When you write something and you send it out, that was thought through, probably read twice or several times, and you made sure it was exactly what you wanted to say, and then you hit send. It's a big difference. It's a big difference.
00:23:36
Speaker 1: Last couple here, another New York City ballet making fairchild said, it's not even this one's.
00:23:42
Speaker 2: This is tough.
00:23:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, go ahead, you take it.
00:23:43
Speaker 2: It's not even the idea that he dissed ballet and opera that bothers me. It's the suggestion that he had the talent and aptitude to pursue these Olympic level artistic fields in the first place. Timmy, I didn't realize you were a world class dancer or opera who simply chose not to pursue it because acting's more popular. Exclamation point, what wow? That would beyond anger? That was mean up.
00:24:10
Speaker 1: This is their life, this is their art, this is their passion, this is everything to them, and they have struggled, I'm sure on their way up in ways that maybe Timothy Shallo may didn't right at least in their mind. So they're hurt. Maybe they're angry as hell, and I'm trying to leave space for that. But man, this does not help. It does not in picking a side. If I didn't have a side at all, I mean, do I go, I don't know who you put your arms around? Do we have to pick a side? I just you know how I am robes this always we have opportunities in conversations, and we always fail, even when it comes to freaking. A guy who played a ping pong player in an opera singer even that, not even politics robes I know.
00:24:52
Speaker 2: I know, And I was just thinking. You know, Timothy Schallamey, I know he went to LaGuardia High School here in New York City and they you are exposed to all the different arts. Is it's a school here in the city where you've got acting and singing and dancing and fine arts and visual arts, and you know, so he he was around. Yes, it's the fame school he was. My point is he has been exposed and has been around artists, so maybe he felt more comfortable like talking about the different types of uh way, the different ways you express your art, and it just this is a community. He knows he is a part of it. I just I hate to see this get so divisive and people get so offended, and I think, finally that ballet dancers, Sarah, I'm trying to murn's okay, Yeah, sorry, I couldn't see that again, just went low. I would like to challenge Timothy chalome to get in a studio with me and create and be a part of something that has stood the test of time. Show your mother the respects she deserves me.
00:25:52
Speaker 1: Come after Mama.
00:25:53
Speaker 2: That's a she went there on.
00:25:55
Speaker 1: That was a choice. Lose on Mama there. Who knows. I don't know how this is going to turn out road. It's just even this got nasty. Even Timothy Schallo may he played Ping Pong in a movie. He might win an oscar. He's dating a Kardashian, for God's sakes. This is the guy.
00:26:14
Speaker 2: Take it. I mean, look, I do appreciate the folks who did take advantage of his He is a phenomenon. He is a global phenomenon. He just mentioned ballet an opera now and the way you wanted him to take advantage, to use it to your advantage.
00:26:30
Speaker 1: We have never done a Timothy Schaalomey episode until this came up.
00:26:34
Speaker 2: I don't think we've talked about ballet or opera even though we went. Maybe we talked about our fun time at the mat that one night. But yes, I.
00:26:41
Speaker 1: Haven't even seen a Timothy Chalomey movie. We're about to try Dune. My plane landed before I could get through it. So I'm a fan of this dude because of what he's done, and now they're making me an even bigger fan. Oh goodness. Sorry, folks, we appreciate you as always. Just want to hop on and get this off my chest. On a Sunday wherever you may be. Hope you are having a good one. We'll talk to you so o
Speaker 1: Hey, that folks say is Sunday, March eighth, one week away, possibly from Timothy shallow May picking up an oscar for Best Actor. But before he gets to that stage, he is going to have to get through some pissed off ballet dancers and opera singers. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ.
00:00:33
Speaker 2: Roapes.
00:00:33
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how they're coming after Timothy's shallo May. This is a this is a beef in the arts. Is this what it looks like?
00:00:41
Speaker 2: Yes? Unfortunately, Look, I believe he said these comments a couple of weeks ago, but they have just been trickling out and now it's reached a fever pitch. And this is a very important time for any actor who is leading up to the Oscars. Of course, they're on these campaign pitches and they're out there and they're doing interviews because they're revving up excitement about their movie that's been nominated or their role that's been nominated. And Timothy s Challomay was just shooting it with Matthew McConaughey and at town Hall and maybe just was a little too unguarded.
00:01:17
Speaker 1: Well, it was in articulate, it was not well thought out. But it's not the end of the world. But it is. If you listen to a lot of folks in the arts, we get it. So so back up here, you've probably seen a lot of the headlines. I think some of these things are cool. I haven't watched them, but some of the pairings are cool. Variety started putting actors together. It's called actors on actors, right. There have been some cool pairings that I've seen that I haven't stopped and watched any of them, but it looks what Adam Sandler and Ariana Grande did one together. I remember the images, but this is what this was. Timothy Chalamey and Matthew mcconnie. That's kind of a cool pairing as well.
00:01:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love it because when you have someone who has been through it, or who knows what you've been through, there's just a level of trust and a conversation that can be at a different level than when it's from a journalist or somebody who's trying to get answers. There's a comfort level, there's a trust level, and you end up getting really fascinating conversations because everyone feels comfortable. The problem is when you feel comfortable, maybe you say things that aren't politically correct.
00:02:18
Speaker 1: And look, this is the first one I've seen Robes that they had a studio audience for. They set this one up kind of as a town hall. Yes, these actors are a big enough deal that you would do that, So it was very casual in this whole setup. Now, Robes, you heard the comments. I think a lot of people have probably more read the comments than listen to them. We're going to let you all hear them here in just a second. It's a fifty eight second clip. We'll give you the right context. Let me get your opinion first of all, Robes, just in hearing the whole thing and the whole context, is the uproar, the criticism, the outrage to a certain degree warranted.
00:02:55
Speaker 2: I don't think so. I think people need to take themselves a little less seriously and recognize that everyone is entitled to an opinion, and it's okay even if it's a fact that ballet audiences and opera audiences might be dwindling. Look, I don't know the numbers. I don't know what it's relative to. I know that I love the show The Gilded Age, where everything is about the opera and when the met came about, and that was the big highlight of the week, The big social event of the week was to go to the opera. Times have changed, and I think he was referencing changing times, changing behavior. And really they were specifically talking about the attention span of younger audiences, how movies are getting shorter, and talking about dying brands of art. I understand it in the context. He was being honest and he had some facts to back up what he was saying. For folks to get so upset in the opera and ballet communities, Look, that's one of those things where when you get triggered, you have to, instead of being upset about the person who said something, ask yourselves why you took such offense to it. Why was that so offensive to you? Why were you so triggered? I think both sides need to ask themselves some questions.
00:04:04
Speaker 1: That is okay when you put it that, that is a very diplomatic and therapeutic way to look at this whole situation. You're right, he struck the nerve robes because he said something that's actually probably right. He said it in the wrong way. Now, I will say he and he didn't have to mention. This had nothing to do, but he made a point and he used ballet and opera to make it, and they probably don't appreciate being that example for what he was saying.
00:04:35
Speaker 2: And I think also to your point, I think where you were going with is Timothy Chalomay is at the top of his game. He is the it boy, he is the goat. He is just kind of everything. So when you're on top of your mountain, you have to be very careful not to take shots at people who might be in valley.
00:04:55
Speaker 3: You know what.
00:04:55
Speaker 1: Let's let you hear it and we'll get her on the other side here. But this is him sitting talking to Matthew McConaughey. They have a small studio audience around them. Again, the conversation was about how I mean they were actually saying Act two's are moving up. They're making a point about movies and shows that producers and studios don't. They say, people have short attention spans, so we don't have time for building the story with an act one. We got to get right to the action in act two. That was the setup to this conversation. He was making the point and I think is a good one robes that if you have a higher piece of art, that if you have a very serious movie, you almost have to promote it as such and let people know what you're going into otherwise you'll lose.
00:05:41
Speaker 2: Them, correct, And I think that is a fair way to look at it. We see our kids, We see everybody with these short attention spans. They won't even finish a song. My daughters will move on because they're like, eh, I'm done with this song. You look and see how people scroll. You watch half a video on board now swipe up, And that is absolutely translated to what people will and won't go sit through at a movie theater, let alone a live theater event.
00:06:05
Speaker 1: So he's making a point about his career and moving forward. Do I want to be a guy who's doing these more serious things and trying to keep an art alive or keep a movie theater alive. That is the context for the conversation. And this, though, is the comment and the answer that you got mister Timothy Jaalam in Trouble No.
00:06:27
Speaker 3: But point being, I think, even like Frankenstein, which is like a hugely popular movie this year, I didn't think that pacing was extraordinarily fast or anything, but it pulled people in, you know, but it does take you having a wave of flag of hey, this is a serious movie or something, and some people want to be entertained and quickly. I'm really right in the middle of Matthew because I admire people and I've done it myself. Do you want to talk to about, Hey, we got to keep movie theaters alive, you know, we got to keep this genre alive. And 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 of about it. And 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 he cares about this, all respect to the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost fourteen cents in viewership. But I just took shots for no reason.
00:07:19
Speaker 1: That's no shot.
00:07:19
Speaker 3: I hear what you say.
00:07:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, so okay, you see where he realized he misspoke, He got uncomfortable, He did a fake little opera singing at the end. There. The fourteen cents was a low blow. That was a shot he shouldn't have said that, correct, Now, that's the one I would say you should probably apologize. But that's the one that was a shot.
00:07:44
Speaker 2: I thought, can I can I tell you something funny about that specific moment. I Look, we'll get into all the response, and there has been a tremendous amount of it. But the one I really appreciated came from the Seattle Opera. They're offering fourteen percent off tickets for its production of Carmen. If you use the promo code, Timothy, that is.
00:08:02
Speaker 1: How you respond. That is the right way to respond. They had fun with it. Who is there's another one that invited him to a show giving her tickets. Right, That is how you go about it, Seattle.
00:08:13
Speaker 2: Right.
00:08:14
Speaker 1: I applaud you all for doing it. People are talking about ballet and opera right now in a way that they don't get it. Take advantage of the moment, Take advantage by being fun, making fun of your soulful of being self deprecating, understanding how gets extending an invitation, robes and the reactions you're talking about, going after him personally, going after his character. This is the kind of person he is. You need to apologize to your mother. These are the high profile people. I'm not even talking about regular responses his mother.
00:08:47
Speaker 2: To that point, his mother was a ballet performer.
00:08:51
Speaker 1: His family, he knows.
00:08:54
Speaker 2: Look, there's a part of it. Yes, I loved the tongue in cheek and I liked what you said. Take advantage of a moment where people are talking about ballet and opera. When's the last time people in the mainstream have been talking about ballet or opera. So look at it as an opportunity, a way for it to now be something people are maybe either rediscovering or looking at for the very first time, because there needs to be an acknowledgment. This isn't some big art form that people talk about going to often.
00:09:24
Speaker 1: Look, we went to have access to by the way, correct.
00:09:28
Speaker 2: I actually got tickets to the Met for the first time when Annie was still in high school. It was an auction and you and I went. Is the first time I'd ever been to the opera in my life. You and I both went and had one of the best times of our lives.
00:09:43
Speaker 1: And it happened to be a opera we didn't know that.
00:09:46
Speaker 2: We didn't know I was and it was the first black opera. Correct, Met, It was amazing. But the point being, we we live in New York City, we can afford tickets, We are exposed to the arts, and you and I had never been in my adult life or at any point in my life, I've never been invited to the opera. I never even thought about going to the opera, to be honest. So this is an option and an opportunity for people to actually be exposed to something. Look at it from that perspective and acknowledge it isn't on the forefront of most people's minds when they think about what they want to do for.
00:10:18
Speaker 1: The weekend, and what do most people maybe think about it when they think about ballet and opera something that's not within my reach, not just as a matter of getting there paying to get there, but it seems, quite frankly, robes something for the elites.
00:10:34
Speaker 2: It does because it has been because.
00:10:35
Speaker 1: This isn't for me. This isn't something I'm invited to or welcome to, or this isn't something that comes to my neighborhood. And all the people on stage don't look like me. Thank you, Missy Copeland. Right, That's why she was such a big deal and a mainstream artist, because she looked different and she made it more relatable. So it doesn't help in my opinion. Robes. In some of these answers and responses to Timothy Shallow, may I look and go, oh, they are elites.
00:11:07
Speaker 2: And it's so funny because they're calling him an elitist.
00:11:10
Speaker 1: Hey, wait what some of the responses you have to leave room, Robes. The talent of these folks is leus, to be clear, is off the course freaking charts. And they have been at this, most of them since they were babies. We respect that and always want to respect that art. Robes. It doesn't it now certainly doesn't seem like a place that most of us would be welcome unless you what we have to talk about it the exact way we can respect and can't we respect that art but also the respect there's a reality to it as well.
00:11:49
Speaker 2: Right, Yes, And I think that's the point. They're out of touch with reality in the sense that they're what he said isn't untrue, and so why not take it, have a conversation about it, and try to find a way to be more inclusive and to make it more relevant and to have it be a part of something that folks feel like Hey, this could be fun to be exposed to. And here's why it's cool. Today people think of it as a lost art form one hundred percent, as something of days before, and also to your point, just completely inaccessible and not something that is even considered, and it isn't. It doesn't have anything to do with the talent, the hard work, the beauty, the table the respect of the art form, which is all of the above. So yeah, this has taking a turn that is unfortunate for everybody. It's unfortunate for Timothy Shalomey. It's unfortunate for the ballet and opera world as well, because mostly because of the reaction to Chala May's comments.
00:12:44
Speaker 1: And let's start with I think the New York the Met kind of got the ball rolling in a major way. And I didn't think what they put out was necessarily negative or going after him. But they put a video rogues not highlighting the performers, but highlighting the people behind the scenes and all the work that goes into preparing for a show and say, hey, Timothy, this one's for you. I get that, but he wasn't taking a shot at those folks. I get that one wasn't so bad, but he wasn't taking a shot at them, but that kind of got things going in robes. From there, it seemed like every opera house from here across the pond and all some of the biggest names in that world started to responding yes.
00:13:24
Speaker 2: And the reaction has been swift. It's been fierce, fierce. Even SNL took a shot at Chalo May as well on Saturday Night Live last night, actually, which I was kind of surprised, but they made a point to make a joke saying Timothy Chalomey has been criticized by major opera and ballet organizations after he said no one cares about those art forms. Well, then they said Chalomey made the comment on a press tour for his movie about Ping Pong, and then they all started laughing, so you know, they gave a little perspective and their point of view.
00:13:57
Speaker 1: It's this whole conversation is making the point that he was making in that we we don't value the arts. That's true, we don't. Everybody we agree. He made that point in a way that offended you, but he's making a point that we all agree with. Case endpoint. Exhibit A. A guy from a movie just mentions your art and you're getting more pressed than you have in the past year. That is how little we value your art versus his art. That's the point. He said it wrong. Let's have that conversation, please.
00:14:39
Speaker 2: That's such a good way to put it. He did. It wasn't a well thought out response. I will say though, it's interesting now. People are of course all everybody wants to jump on and pile on and find someone to blame because we don't want to talk about maybe what should be discussed about how we can value the arts better, how we can have a more inclusive community. Let's just completely throw whatever we can on Timothy Shalome And people are digging up other interviews that he's given in the past. He has referenced this before. This isn't the first time he's talked about opera or ballet being a dead art form. He has said it multiple times in multiple interviews. For some reason, this time was his undoing.
00:15:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, people don't like it being said that away. Certainly, people who are working and thriving, even very successful in those arts, see it differently. He didn't have the numbers. He didn't have right, if he'd come with some facts to back it, up. Maybe they would have helped him out. But stay here, folks. We'll let you hear some of these words again from folks who are going after him, saying he should apologize to his mother. Folks are saying this shows everything about his character. Even stay here, all right, we continue here on this Sunday, a week from Oscar Sunday. Right, I got that right. Timothy Shallow may might be walking across that stage to win an Oscar for Best Actor. I hope he does a little ballet move as it goes across.
00:16:14
Speaker 2: You know. I wonder what he seriously though. I mean, that would actually be kind of awesome, be perfect. But he's gonna walk the red carpet. I would imagine he's going to get asked about this by virtually every Maybe some people will be respectful and the excitement of the day and they'll back away. But I wouldn't be surprised if someone goes there and calls him out and asks him.
00:16:34
Speaker 1: About it, and maybe he has a better answer for maybe he says it in a more articulate way. Maybe whatever it may be, but the story is what it is. When the first thing that got me, I just sometimes it feels not necessarily authentic when it comes from certain area, it feels like we're just taking advantage of a moment and to beat up on the kid because we have the attention right now and we can. Some of it felt that way and some didn't. I think you can genuinely be offended by what he said and hate the you know, almost make your shoulders go down a little bit. You're slunk down in your seat, like, oh, this is the thing I dedicate my life to. And a guy who's a really big deal just pointed out that my art isn't a big deal. That stings like, hell.
00:17:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you know. If he had said, you know, the dying art form hit a nerve, But to say no one cares, that's that's tough. And he was being flippant. I mean, he's in his twenties, his early twenties. He's he's old enough to probably know better, but you could also say young enough to not recognize how one missed way of describing something can set off a whole chain of events.
00:17:43
Speaker 1: And we should say he does not get in trouble as much as he is very much publican out there and then MA cameras in his face, dating a Kardashian and he has stayed fairly clean, has he not contramarkable?
00:17:56
Speaker 2: But yes, and look, I think it's so important to say everybody calmed down the ballet and opera world. I think again, you can just you can be offended, you can be sad, you can feel like, wow, he really went there, and then maybe think, Okay, let's do better at marketing ourselves. Let's do better at bringing this to the world in a different way where people don't feel like it's out of reach and out of touch. Perhaps and not with the times there are. This is an opportunity and not one necessarily to throw stones across the way and to go to start pointing fingers. That's when it gets ugly. But yes, even the roy then they start going into defense mode about how important ballet and opera is and that also isn't maybe necessarily gonna land the way they want it to.
00:18:43
Speaker 1: Who's the audience for it, exactly, I would ask. I mean it might be their own audience. They're in their own world, and that is also okay. Royal Ballet and Opera coming out with this saying ballet and opera have never existed in isolation. They have continually informed, inspired, and elevated other art forms. Their influence can be felt across theater, film, contemporary music, fashion, and beyond. For centuries, these disciplines have shaped the way artists create an audience experienced culture, and today millions of people around the world continue to enjoy and engage with them. Well done, fine that it's always worth pointing out the Royal ballet and opera. I have not looked at your website in years, and I am now paying attention. That's a good thing to remind us all of that. I like that statement.
00:19:28
Speaker 2: I do too, and it's just yes, it's an opportunity. They took advantage of it to talk about how wonderful opera and ballet are. Great. Opera, tonight wrote, opera has been around since the sixteenth century and is still alive and well today. They later added this, what a shame, This is just Timothy Chalome. What a shame that you don't have respect.
00:19:48
Speaker 1: For other art forms?
00:19:49
Speaker 2: Its top Okay, it's a little spanking right there. Oh, you don't have unnecessary unnecessary.
00:19:55
Speaker 1: That's how they feel. They feel they know him well enough to know he doesn't respect any other art form other than movie star.
00:20:05
Speaker 2: Okay, okay. Isabelle Leonard big, big big.
00:20:10
Speaker 1: She's a Grammy winner, three time Grammy winner, operation singly. Yeah, she is a big deal.
00:20:14
Speaker 2: So she went there.
00:20:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, this was strong, she said.
00:20:19
Speaker 2: Honestly, I'm shocked that someone so seemingly successful can be so ineloquent and narrow minded in his views about art while considering himself as an artist. I would only imagine one would as an actor to take cheap shots at fellow artists, says more in this interview than anything else he could say, shows a lot about his character. You don't have to like all art, but only a weak person artist feels the need to diminish, in fact, the very arts that would inspire those who are interested in slowing down to do exactly that.
00:20:53
Speaker 1: I didn't understand that last part. It was a little ineloquent, she might say, but I didn't understand what she was saying.
00:20:59
Speaker 2: It is interesting, do you think when people take shots that other people don't recognizing that they're actually taking shots for the exact same reasons the other person did so to call him weak for taking a shot at an artist, that is exactly what she is doing right back to him. I just always think It's interesting in those moments where you can't even see that your reaction is actually on the same.
00:21:20
Speaker 1: Level and to what you're saying here, I am I am focused on it because she actually wrote it down. This wasn't right. I don't think she wrote this out, So there's no other way to kind of interpret or whatever. It is the point she is calling him the exact thing she's complaining about being called exactly. So what do we do ro This is the problem. And some of these are where it's difficult in these who gets to be the adult who gets to if someone does something wrong? Can you meet them not at that wrong level, but up a little bit and possibly elevate them up with you? Is it possible? We don't have to go down and meet Timothy where he is. Let's bring him up a little bit and elevate the conversation because it she took it down.
00:22:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, oh she was. She was hurt. She was angry and hurt. People hurt, and that's exactly what she did. And he wasn't meaning to personally offend or hurt any of these folks. That is that is absolutely true. He was trying to make a point about attention spans dwindling audiences and wanting to be with with where future trends are versus staying in the past, where we hold on to certain things because we want them to stay the same.
00:22:32
Speaker 1: He said it the wrong way. He said it the wrong absolutely.
00:22:34
Speaker 2: So couldn't she have just been like I know that in his heart, he couldn't have meant what he said. I recognize we have some work to do on getting the word out about how beautiful opera is. Like you could just have taken that stance.
00:22:47
Speaker 1: Or didn't have to go she had to say I'm pissed and that hurt. If you would have said that, I would have gone, Okay, I feel you and that sister. Yeah, she attacked him. She attacked his character, She attacked who he is, She attacked his passion, She had attacked his art. Right, he just made a slip. She had a second to hit delete.
00:23:06
Speaker 2: I thought you made such a good point that I had not thought about. Timothy Chalome was talking. And when you talk and you're on a you got a microphone on, you're talking to a bud. Yes there were cameras, Yes there was a live audience. But you might you might say things that you regret or you didn't mean to say it a certain way. When you type something, When you write something and you send it out, that was thought through, probably read twice or several times, and you made sure it was exactly what you wanted to say, and then you hit send. It's a big difference. It's a big difference.
00:23:36
Speaker 1: Last couple here, another New York City ballet making fairchild said, it's not even this one's.
00:23:42
Speaker 2: This is tough.
00:23:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, go ahead, you take it.
00:23:43
Speaker 2: It's not even the idea that he dissed ballet and opera that bothers me. It's the suggestion that he had the talent and aptitude to pursue these Olympic level artistic fields in the first place. Timmy, I didn't realize you were a world class dancer or opera who simply chose not to pursue it because acting's more popular. Exclamation point, what wow? That would beyond anger? That was mean up.
00:24:10
Speaker 1: This is their life, this is their art, this is their passion, this is everything to them, and they have struggled, I'm sure on their way up in ways that maybe Timothy Shallo may didn't right at least in their mind. So they're hurt. Maybe they're angry as hell, and I'm trying to leave space for that. But man, this does not help. It does not in picking a side. If I didn't have a side at all, I mean, do I go, I don't know who you put your arms around? Do we have to pick a side? I just you know how I am robes this always we have opportunities in conversations, and we always fail, even when it comes to freaking. A guy who played a ping pong player in an opera singer even that, not even politics robes I know.
00:24:52
Speaker 2: I know, And I was just thinking. You know, Timothy Schallamey, I know he went to LaGuardia High School here in New York City and they you are exposed to all the different arts. Is it's a school here in the city where you've got acting and singing and dancing and fine arts and visual arts, and you know, so he he was around. Yes, it's the fame school he was. My point is he has been exposed and has been around artists, so maybe he felt more comfortable like talking about the different types of uh way, the different ways you express your art, and it just this is a community. He knows he is a part of it. I just I hate to see this get so divisive and people get so offended, and I think, finally that ballet dancers, Sarah, I'm trying to murn's okay, Yeah, sorry, I couldn't see that again, just went low. I would like to challenge Timothy chalome to get in a studio with me and create and be a part of something that has stood the test of time. Show your mother the respects she deserves me.
00:25:52
Speaker 1: Come after Mama.
00:25:53
Speaker 2: That's a she went there on.
00:25:55
Speaker 1: That was a choice. Lose on Mama there. Who knows. I don't know how this is going to turn out road. It's just even this got nasty. Even Timothy Schallo may he played Ping Pong in a movie. He might win an oscar. He's dating a Kardashian, for God's sakes. This is the guy.
00:26:14
Speaker 2: Take it. I mean, look, I do appreciate the folks who did take advantage of his He is a phenomenon. He is a global phenomenon. He just mentioned ballet an opera now and the way you wanted him to take advantage, to use it to your advantage.
00:26:30
Speaker 1: We have never done a Timothy Schaalomey episode until this came up.
00:26:34
Speaker 2: I don't think we've talked about ballet or opera even though we went. Maybe we talked about our fun time at the mat that one night. But yes, I.
00:26:41
Speaker 1: Haven't even seen a Timothy Chalomey movie. We're about to try Dune. My plane landed before I could get through it. So I'm a fan of this dude because of what he's done, and now they're making me an even bigger fan. Oh goodness. Sorry, folks, we appreciate you as always. Just want to hop on and get this off my chest. On a Sunday wherever you may be. Hope you are having a good one. We'll talk to you so o