Timothée Chalamet and Jessie Buckley 'scupper Oscars chances' at the last minute
Timothée Chalamet and Jessie Buckley have both found themselves at the centre of backlash just days before the Oscars, after comments made during awards season sparked a storm online.
Although the Academy Award winners have already been decided as voting closed on 4th March, the controversy can't change the outcome now, but it has still threatened to overshadow what had been hugely successful campaigns for both stars.
Timothée had been seen as one of the big names in the Best Actor race thanks to his performance in Marty Supreme, while Jessie has remained a strong favourite in the Best Actress category for her role in Hamnet.
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As the final stretch of the campaign played out, both actors have come under fire over remarks that went viral and drew ire from fans.
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Starting with Timothée, the 30-year-old faced criticism after discussing the kind of projects he wants to be involved in, and appeared to dismiss ballet and opera in the process.
Speaking to fellow actor Matthew McConaughey, he said: "I admire people, and I've done it myself, doing a talk show about how we've got to keep movie theatres alive, you know, we've got to keep this genre alive.
"And another part of me feels like, if people want to see it, like Barbie, like Oppenheimer, they're going to go see it and go out of their way to be loud and proud about it.
"And I don't want to be working in ballet or opera or, you know, things where it's like, ‘hey, keep this thing alive’, even though no one cares about this any more.
"All respect to the ballet and opera people out there, I just lost 14 cents in viewership, I just took shots for no reason."
The comments prompted an immediate response from figures in both industries, who accused the actor of being dismissive and out of touch.
Opera singer Isabel Leonard hit back, writing: "Honestly, I'm shocked that someone so seemingly successful can be so ineloquent and narrow-minded in his views about art while considering himself as an artist as I would only imagine one would as an actor.
"To take cheap shots at fellow artists says more in this interview than anything else he could say. Shows a lot about his character."
Choreographer Martin Chaix also weighed in, insisting ballet is "very much alive", while the English National Ballet pointed to strong audience numbers and digital reach as proof the artform is thriving.
Jessie, meanwhile, found herself in hot water after an old interview resurfaced in which she joked about making her now-husband choose between her and his cats.
Speaking in the original interview, she said: "I don't like cats," before later revealing: "My husband, when I started dating him, he had two cats… This is bad as well. I'm gonna get cancelled.
"One of the cats was like a pedigree model b*tch, and she staged a coup against me. I'd come home, and there'd just be poo on my pillow. And I was like, 'it's me or the cats'. But I won!"
The clip quickly spread online, with some viewers branding the comments heartless and others accusing her of trying to laugh off an ultimatum.
Jessie later addressed the backlash on US television, insisting she had been misunderstood and wanted to set the record straight.
She said: "I need to clarify something for all cat lovers in the world. I am a lover of cats. I woke up this morning to the world thinking I really don't love cats and it really weighed on me all day. I felt sick."
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