oscars 2026 Awards Misty Copeland takes center stage at Oscars 2026 after Timothée Chalamet’s ballet dig By Desiree Murphy Published March 15, 2026, 8:21 p.m. ET A moment of appreciation for ballet.
Legendary ballerina Misty Copeland performed during the Oscars 2026 ceremony — stealing the spotlight away from best actor nominee Timothée Chalamet and his claims that “no one cares” about the “dying” art form anymore.
Chalamet was in the audience at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles Sunday night as Copeland danced alongside vocalists Miles Caton and Raphael Saadiq.
They performed to “I Lied to You” — a song off the “Sinners” soundtrack — which is nominated for best song.
Cameras did not pan over to the actor for his reaction during the performance.
However, earlier in the night when Conan poked fun at him, cameras showed him laughing off the diss.
Prior to her big moment, Copeland walked the red carpet in a black structured blazer with a plunging V-neckline and billowing white tulle at the cuffs and hem, paired with a flowing white skirt.
The Ryan Coogler-directed “Sinners” film (starring Michael B. Jordan, Hailee Steinfeld, Delroy Lindo, Wunmi Mosaku and more) is up for the most prestigious award of the night, best picture, against Chalamet’s “Marty Supreme,” “One Battle After Another,” “Sentimental Value,” “F1,” “Bugonia,” “Frankenstein,” “Hamnet,” “The Secret Agent” and “Train Dreams.”
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Jordan and Chalamet are also nominated against each other in a tight race for best actor, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio (“One Battle After Another”), Ethan Hawke (“Blue Moon”) and Wagner Moura (“The Secret Agent”).
Leading up to his big night, Chalamet faced widespread backlash for the comments he made about ballet and opera during a “Variety & CNN Town Hall” event with fellow actor Matthew McConaughey last month.
“I don’t want to be working in ballet, or opera, or things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive, even though no one cares about this anymore,'” the “Wonka” star, 30, said at the time.
“All respect to all the ballet and opera people out there … I just lost 14 cents in viewership.”
Critics were unhappy with Chalamet’s comments, with many taking to social media to bring attention to the fact that some of his own family members were brought up in the dance world.
The actor’s mom, Nicole Flender, previously danced for the New York City Ballet and performed in several Broadway musicals, while his sister, “The Sex Lives of College Girls” star Pauline, trained at the School of American Ballet before finding fame as an actress.
One of the first celebrities to speak out on Chalamet’s controversial comments was Copeland, who made history in 2015 as the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre.
In her now-viral statement, she brought up how “very interesting” it was that Chalamet “invited” her to play a role in helping him promote “Marty Supreme” with “respect” to her art form in 2025.
“I think that it’s important that we acknowledge that, yes, this is an art form that’s not ‘popular’ and a part of pop culture as movies are, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have enduring relevance in culture,” Copeland said during a TOGETHXR x Aveeno panel earlier this month, noting that there’s “a reason” why ballet and the opera have been around for over 400 years.
“[Chalamet] wouldn’t be an actor and have the opportunities he has as a movie star if it weren’t for opera and ballet and their relevance in that medium. So all of these mediums have a space and we shouldn’t be comparing them.”
Other celebrities, shows and institutions who weighed in included Doja Cat, Karla Sofía Gascón, “Jeopardy!,” the ladies of “The View,” the Royal Ballet and Opera, the Metropolitan Opera and more.
Even the Los Angeles Music Center jumped in on the trolling, hilariously offering a 20% discount on ballet performances this summer with code “CHALAMET” at checkout.
