Timothée Chalamet should presently have the world talking about his odds of winning an Academy Award as one of the 2026 Oscar nominees, but instead, The View and others are coming for his neck. After drawing the ire of notable ballet companies for comments saying that no one cares about the art form, the hosts sounded off on the actor. Sunny Hostin had a few things to say, being someone on The View's panel with a background in dance. Hostin made it clear that, along with others in the dance community, she wasn't pleased with what the young actor had to say about professional dance:
As a member of the Dance Theater of Harlem, a classical ballet Black troupe, I am offended and disappointed in what he said. I didn't realize that he was that vapid and that shallow.
Hostin was hurt by the comments, and it seemed she wanted to hurt Chalamet back by calling him "vapid" and "shallow." It's certainly not the type of adjectives an actor will want, especially when they're trying to make history with a win at the upcoming Oscars. Sheryl Underwood, who was filling in as a guest host on The View, had a more understanding take than Sunny. Perhaps looking back to past incidents where Timothée Chalamet said he was misinterpreted, perhaps he needs to take a beat before talking, and think about the weight his words carry. Said the co-host,
I think it's more about him being young and you sitting with Matthew McConaughey and y'all kiki-ing and chopping it up. So I think he thought he could say that. He just made the good ping pong movie...I bet if he was playing Rudolph Nureyev, I bet if he was playing him in a movie, he would respect the art form a little bit better...A lot of young people need to understand, don't just flip off and say something. Really understand that your words have meaning to other young people.
Underwood's comments possibly shine a light on why so many professionals in the dance industry took offense. Beyond the disrespect, Timothée Chalamet is potentially discouraging the next generation of dancers from joining up because he is writing it off. Whoopi Goldberg, who is always ready to go on The View, took the most aggressive stance of the panel. She pointed to the fact that Chalamet's mother, grandmother, and sister all performed for the New York City Ballet, and how his comments he lost "fourteen cents in viewership" for the statement could come back to haunt him:
You come from a dance family. And so when you crap on somebody else's art form, it doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel good to see. And you probably didn't realize it until you said, 'Oh, I'm in trouble.' But then you compounded it and said 'fourteen cents.' No, when people get mad? It'll be more than fourteen cents...Be careful, boy.
Goldberg's been in Hollywood for a long time and is an award winning movie and television star (famously one of the few to claim the EGOT title). This is to say, she likely knows what she's talking about and how Timothée Chalamet's words might have a bigger impact on him than even he realizes. If there's any silver lining to this controversy for the Marty Supreme star, it's that the Oscars voting closed before his comments made waves. Of course, it still feels like a good chance that he's going to lose the award for Best Actor, with Michael B. Jordan feeling like the favorite to win the prize for his performance in Sinners. Chalamet will likely have more opportunities to win in the future beyond the coming show on Sunday, but he had better hope he doesn't have to rely on the votes of people who are patrons of the fine arts. Either that, or he needs to find a way to turn around these negative comments about ballet or lie low until people move on to another hot topic ahead of Sunday. The View continues on the 2026 TV schedule on ABC weekdays at 11:00 a.m. ET. We'll see if Timothée Chalamet reacts to their comments in any way, or he decides its best to just take his lumps and move on at this point.
