Academy wars: how did this season’s Oscars discourse get so toxic?
Fury over Timothée Chalamet’s comments about ballet or Jessie Buckley not liking cats has reached a bizarre fever pitch as the industry wills this Sunday to arrive fasterAround day five...
By Jesse Hassenger · The Guardian Culture
Fury over Timothée Chalamet’s comments about ballet or Jessie Buckley not liking cats has reached a bizarre fever pitch as the industry wills this Sunday to arrive faster Around day five of debate over what Timothée Chalamet said and/or meant about opera and ballet , it started to feel like maybe the 2025-2026 Oscar season had actually lasted for the past 17 years. Voting for the 98th annual Academy awards concluded on 5 March, but that didn’t stop the internet from throwing a bunch of attempted buzzer-beaters; an interview where Chalamet casually referred to ballet and opera as potentially endangered (and perhaps not especially relevant) art forms was actually held some weeks ago in a conversation with fellow actor Matthew McConaughey. But it was that same vote-closing on Thursday when the clip started to circulate virally online and rebuttals poured in. This was swiftly followed by counter-charges that most likely the majority of people excoriating Chalamet, campaigning for best actor in Marty Supreme , had themselves not been the ballet or opera especially recently. Continue reading...