Doja Cat Walks Back Timothée Chalamet Criticism, Admits She Was Virtue Signaling

Earlier this week Doja Cat joined the legions of people defending opera and ballet in the wake of comments Timothée Chalament made about the art forms. "I’m sure you can walk into an opera theater right now, seats will be filled out, and nobody’s saying a word as the performance is going because everybody has that much respect for it," Doja Cat said in a since-deleted video, referencing Chalamet's recent claims that "no one cares about" it. Sorry to everybody in the opera community who are already mad, but now, Doja's walking back those comments.

In a new video, Doja Cat explained she acted on impulse because she "wanted to look like a hero." She said in part:

I am gonna come out and just say I know nothing about opera... 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 a part of something. It's like a need to connect, whether good or bad...

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 fuck with me. And it's easy, it's a modern way to garner clicks, likes, approval... And I didn't really think about why I was doing it. I think that for the last couple days I've been acting on impulse anyways because I just love to be fucking goofy... But I wanted to be sincere in a moment, and that was the perfect material for me to seem sincere.

But the truth is that I don't know anything about opera, I don't know anything about ballet, and I've never been to either shows. And I think I just wanted a hug. I think that that's all that I wanted. I wanted to feel like I was part of something bigger than myself. I wanted to be pat on the back the way everyone else was patting each other on the back. And I wanted to look like a hero.

Meanwhile, other stars are weighing in across both sides of the argument: "I feel compelled to say that even when an art form isn’t at the height of its popularity, traces of it still live on in the music and cinema that resonate with people today," Charlie Puth wrote. Slovak singer/former ballerina Adéla opined in a paparazzi video that Chalamet was unfortunately correct: "He’s not wrong. [Ballet] is kinda a dying art form. It’s sad. If anything, he’s just highlighted that."

Jamie Lee Curtis said she was sure that there's been "a reduction in audiences for those art forms," adding: "Does that mean it's going to be the destruction of those art forms? No." Self-proclaimed Phantom Of The Opera fan and Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón, who was infamously caught in controversy of her own before last year's Oscars, offered Timmy some condolences on her Instagram story: "Best of luck at the awards." (Oscar voting ended before his comments went viral, so Marty Supreme has ben marked safe.)