Steven Spielberg reacts to Timothee Chalamet's opera and ballet remark: 'Want to sustain that forever'

Filmmaker Steven Spielberg has weighed in on the ongoing debate sparked by actor Timothee Chalamet over comments about ballet and opera highlighting the enduring community experience of performing arts and cinemaSpeaking during a keynote conversation at South by Southwest Film and TV Festival Spielberg reflected on the importance of movie theatres and shared experiences in the arts while also making a reference to the recent controversy surrounding Chalamets remarksSteven Spielberg takes a dig at Timothee Chalamets commentsWhile acknowledging the growing role of streaming platforms and noting his own collaborations with Netflix the director stressed that the traditional theatre experience remains uniqueBut for me the real experience comes when we can influence a community to congregate into a strange dark space where all of us are strangers At the end of a really good movie experience we are all united with a whole bunch of feelings and that we walk into the daylight with or into the nighttime with And theres nothing like that It happens in movies and concerts And it happens in ballet and opera by the wayHis remark drew laughter and applause from the audience Spielberg continued And we want that to be sustained We want that to go on foreverI dont want to be working in ballet or opera or things where its like Hey keep this thing alive even though like no one cares about this anymore Chalamet saidAll respect to all the ballet and opera people out there he quickly addedChalamet had been talking to Matthew McConaughey at the University of Texas in February about efforts to preserve cinemaI dont want to be working in ballet or opera or things where its like Hey keep this thing alive even though like no one cares about this anymore Chalamet said All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there he added He joked that the broadcast might lose 14 cents in viewership due to his remarksHow Doja Cat reacted to Timothee Chalamets commentsldquoHey by the way opera is 400 years old ballet is 500 years oldrdquo Doja Cat said in a TikTok video ldquoSomebody named Timohtay Chalamet had the nerve big guy by the way had the nerve to say on camera that nobody cares about itrdquoTheGrammywinningartiste went on to highlight the etiquette and respect surrounding ballet and operaldquoIrsquom sure you can walk into an opera theater right now seats will be filled out and nobodyrsquos saying a word as the performance is going because everybody has that much respect for itrdquo she said ldquoThere is an etiquette around opera There is etiquette around ballet It is amazing Itrsquos an amazing theater medium Itrsquos f beautiful and people go there everyday to the dance studiordquoDoja Cat added ldquoIt doesnrsquot 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 Doesnrsquot mean people donrsquot care about it People care The dancers care the singers care the audience cares Therersquos still an audiencerdquoShe concluded with a message for Chalamet saying ldquoPeople give a f You show up in a nice outfit You sit the f down and shut the f up Thatrsquos the usual etiquette around those things Maybe learn something from thatrdquo