Timothée Chalamet did not have a great Oscars night. Here’s who did.

The 98th Academy Awards on Sunday delivered the usual chaos: surprise wins, emotional speeches, and one very public lesson in “maybe don’t say that out loud”, courtesy of Timothée Chalamet.

Let’s rewind. During a CNN-Variety town hall with fellow actor Matthew McConaughey late last month, the Marty Supreme actor was asked about slow cinema. His answer? A slightly rogue detour. “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’.” Oh Timmy! To his credit, he realised almost immediately he’d stepped on a cultural landmine. “All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there,” he hastily added. To everyone else’s credit, they did not let it slide.

Enter ballerina Misty Copeland, who calmly reminded the internet that ballet and opera have been going strong for about 400 years and, as a small detail, helped to lay the groundwork for modern acting. Jamie Lee Curtis called the comments “silly”. Jon Stewart declared the art forms victorious in a fictional boxing match. Even Doja Cat briefly got involved. It was, in short, a pile-on with pointe shoes.

By Oscar night, Chalamet wasn’t just a Best Actor nominee for Marty Supreme, he was a one-man culture war. Host Conan O’Brien twisted the knife: security was tight, he joked, due to threats from the opera and ballet communities (and, notably, jazz musicians who felt snubbed).

Chalamet laughed. What else can you do when the entire performing arts industry has you in a group chat?

Then came the actual awards and the real upset. Michael B Jordan took Best Actor for his incredible dual performance in Sinners, becoming only the sixth black man to win the category. In his speech, he paid tribute to Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, and Will Smith, a lineage of heavyweights he now joins.

Another big winner for Sinners was Autumn Cheyenne Durald Arkapaw, who became the first woman of colour to be nominated and the first woman EVER (side eye to the Oscars) to win Best Cinematography. First nomination, first win – all from one film.

Here’s who else walked away with Oscars:

🔹 Best song – Golden from KPop Demon Hunters, which also won Best Animated Feature (Although both groups of winners were rudely cut off mid-speech)

🔹 Best Actress – Jessie Buckley (Hamnet)

🔹 Best Picture – One Battle After Another

🔹 Best Visual Effects – Avatar: Fire and Ash

In the end, Sinners took home four Oscars. Marty Supreme took home none. And Chalamet took home… a week he’s probably not rewatching anytime soon.