When Chalamet says he does not want to work in ballet or opera (*giggles*, *kicking back in his chair trying to sound/look cool*), because nobody “cares” about opera, the reactions are, of course, strong. It was to expect.

He says this from the entitled, privileged position of a Hollywood world where tickets sell in millions, songs are streamed in millions, faces are sold for millions. Of course, in his prism, “nobody” cares about ballet and opera, in comparison with his world. And while some people are commenting that this “might” have some truth in it, I do not feel that this is the matter of the question.

Live opera, live theatre, live ballet, live concerts still move a lot of money for a lot of people. Many jobs depend on these genres that “nobody cares about”. Thousands and thousands of singers, instrumentalists, conductors, directors, technicians, make-up artists, costume makers, the concierges… Many theatres function, many concert halls are active. There are entire music schools and colleges that focus on a world that “nobody cares about”. Opera companies, ballet companies. Modest summer festivals, where we all begin with many hopes. Small church concerts. There is so much behind this.

He says he does not want to be part of it – evidently because it is not a popular world. And he does not have to work in live theatre/music/arts, actually. He has cinema. But what actually I dislike, is the tone.

Because, you see: you don’t have to like everything, and you do not have to be a part of everything. But when you are a public person and you know millions are listening, you should be careful and say at least something constructive and nice. In the act of this cool-“dude”-giggling, there is an arrogant attitude that smells of bullying.

Here comes my point: You can say you don’t like opera, that’s fine. But you do not make fun of something because you think it is small, or niche, or less important than your world. You can dislike ballet, you can criticise the world of opera-mafia, the arrogant conductors, the fake divas, anything – but you cannot put down a whole genre because it is a minority or a “smaller” world. Belittling something is never constructive. Laughing at something because you think it does not “matter” does nobody good. At the most, it is a comment you can make in a close circle of friends in front of a beer. And this would be valid also if an opera diva would publicly laugh about chamber music, or early music, or Gregorian chant, just to make an example. It would also be bullying.

On television, or on a public media, you should show respect, even to the smallest of genres, to the smallest of languages, to the smallest of religions, to the smallest of books, to the smallest of budgets.

It has nothing to do with liking or disliking something – we are free to like or dislike opera, we are free to want to work in it or not (by the way, what would be Chalamet’s job in an opera, if I may ask, the job he would not want to do? Is there a job in ballet or opera that would be feasible for him?) – but… are we also free to despise a whole genre and its hundreds of thousands workers and students, as well as its millions of fans, because we feel it small or insignificant compared to another genre (in this case, Hollywood)?

For me, it shows insensitiveness, bullying tendencies, and toxicity. It seems, to me, alarmingly unkind, and coming from a young rich kid who, in other occasions, flaunted about being from artsy, theatre-rich New York City.

Watch your words when you speak in public.