Karla Sofía Gascón trolls Timothée Chalamet amid backlash over opera and ballet remarks

Karla Sofía Gascón has weighed in on the criticism surrounding Timothée Chalamet after the actor’s remarks about traditional performing arts prompted debate online and among industry figures.

Chalamet has been actively promoting his film Marty Supreme during the current awards season and has collected several honours while campaigning for what could become his first Academy Award for best actor. However, comments he made during a public conversation with Matthew McConaughey at a Variety and CNN town hall have drawn criticism from performers in the opera and ballet communities.

During the discussion, Chalamet spoke about the importance of preserving the shared experience of watching films in cinemas. While explaining his views, he appeared to suggest that some traditional art forms require support despite declining public interest.

“I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though, like, no one cares about this anymore.’ All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there,” he said during the conversation.

Seemingly recognising that his words could be misinterpreted, the actor quickly added: “I just lost 14 cents in viewership. I just took shots for no reason.”

The comments prompted criticism from figures within the performing arts sector. 

Amid the criticism, actress Karla Sofía Gascón shared a meme on Instagram referencing the situation. In the post, Gascón and Chalamet appeared as their respective characters from Emilia Pérez and Marty Supreme, depicted as if speaking by phone.

Photo: Instagram

“Hola Karla, do u think they’re gonna make me pass the red carpet at the Oscars?” the meme read.

Gascón added her own caption to the post. “Are you a trans woman? Then don’t worry about it, Tim.”

“Besides, I love ballet slippers, and I’ve seen The Phantom of the Opera ten times,” she wrote. “Not sure if that counts for anything. Best of luck with the awards. Even though no one has seen or heard me say anything, while they have both seen and heard you, people still seem to prefer believing whatever the bad guys claim I said.”

Gascón was seemingly nodding to her own controversy before the Oscars last year. The Emilia Pérez star who was the first openly transgender actor nominated for an Academy Award, came under fire in January 2025 after racist and Islamophobic social media posts allegedly published by her resurfaced online.