Nathan Lane shared his not-so-subtle thoughts about Timothée Chalamet, who was recently roasted online for giving fellow artists some shade.
The older and more experienced actor, aged 70, described Chalamet as “a schmuck” amid the backlash he has been receiving.
“Nathan Lane was so funny, he really nailed it!” a fan commented.
Nathan Lane shared his not-so-subtle thoughts about Timothée Chalamet, who was recently roasted online for his shade at fellow artists
Image credits: Myung J. Chun /Getty Images
Timothée Chalamet dug his own grave when he recently shared his thoughts on opera and ballet.
“No one cares” about it anymore, the 30-year-old Oscar nominee said while speaking to Matthew McConaughey during a Variety and CNN town hall.
His comments were widely criticized online, with Nathan Lane being the latest public figure to diss him.
Image credits: The 92nd Street Y, New York
“Oh, what a schmuck,” Lane groaned during a Thursday morning appearance on The View after host Whoopi Goldberg asked him about the controversy involving Chalamet.
“He opened his mouth. Poor guy. Leave him alone!” comedian Joy Behar said, promoting Lane to go on a rant about the Wonka actor.
The legendary Broadway actor called Chalamet a “schmuck” for his recent comments
Image credits: Bruce Glikas/Getty Images
“It was kind of kaleidoscopic in its stupidity and insensitivity, and yet strangely telling about where we are in this country,” Lane said.
The acclaimed theater actor said he believed audiences would continue watching the ballet Swan Lake and the opera La Traviata “long after” someone at a dinner party asks, “Who was Timothée Chalamet?”
“It’s the show business circle of life,” he added.
Ok, I did not hear this. This sucks pic.twitter.com/O2ZW26zHrb
— Seth Abramovitch (@SethAbramovitch) March 5, 2026
Lane went on to say that the “bigger question” that should have been addressed was why people found it “necessary” for McConaughey and Chalamet to have such a town hall discussion in the first place.
Taking a dig at the US president, the Broadway veteran said he would have preferred seeing “Democrats discussing how to get this lunatic out of the White House.”
McConaughey and Chalamet may have smoked some w**d, Lane said while trying to explain the controversial remarks
Image credits: Michael Afonso/Unsplash
Lane still had more to say about the Chalamet controversy and roasted the young actor’s Oscar-nominated movie Marty Supreme, which tells the story of a hustling ping pong player Marty Mauser (inspired by Marty Reisman).
“I’ve got news for Timmy. If you think nobody cares about opera and ballet, I can’t tell you how much we don’t care about ping-pong,” Lane said on the show.
“In his defense, he was doing it with Matthew McConaughey, so I’m thinking some w**d was smoked and this may just be a tragic case,” he added.
Image credits: The View
The widely discussed Variety and CNN town hall, which saw the Dune star having a chat with McConaughey, took place on February 24.
Chalamet made his dismissive remarks while talking about how the entertainment landscape was changing and how people no longer visited theaters as they did before.
“I admire people, and I’ve done it myself, who go on a talk show and go, ‘Hey, we gotta keep movie theaters alive. You know, we gotta keep this genre alive,” he told the Interstellar actor.
“I just lost 14 cents in viewership. I just took shots for no reason,” the Dune star said, realizing his cancel-worthy statements
Image credits: Variety
The A Complete Unknown actor still acknowledged how some movies like Barbie and Oppenheimer would make viewers go “out of their way” to see them on the big screen and be “loud and proud about it.”
“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 it’s like, no one cares about this anymore,” he continued.
As he quickly realized the cancel-worthiness of his statements, he added, “All respect to the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost 14 cents in viewership. I just took shots for no reason.”
Image credits: tchalamet
Despite his comments, it is known that Chalamet grew up watching multiple family members dancing ballet, including his mother, sister, and grandmother.
He said he was often backstage and “dreaming big” at New York’s Koch Theater because they were all ballerinas.
“I’m like a Venn diagram of the best cultural influences of the 21st century and 20th century,” he said in a past interview.
Several celebrities, including Jamie Lee Curtis and Doja Cat, criticized the Oscar nominee
Image credits: The View
Celebrities have been vocal about their disappointment over Chalamet’s remarks, with legendary classical artist Andrea Bocelli inviting the actor to one of his concerts.
“I am convinced that a sensitive performer like Timothée, who understands the power of emotions, may one day discover that opera and dance draw from that very same source,” he told People.
Jamie Lee Curtis called Chalamet’s comments “silly” and felt sorry that this would be part of “his legacy now.”
“I’m sure he regrets the comment because you can’t throw those art forms under a bus,” she said. “You can’t do it. They’re too important.”
Doja Cat also criticized him in a TikTok video, talking about “the nerve to say, on camera, that nobody cares about.”
“It doesn’t 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. Doesn’t mean people don’t care about it,” she said in a since-deleted TikTok video.
“People care,” she added. “The dancers care, the singers care, the audience cares. There’s still an audience.”
“Chalamet is an immature clown,” a critic said, while another said, “he’s essentially a Jenner Kardashian billionaire”
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