Why Timothee Chalamet and Jessie Buckley may have sabotaged their chances at the Oscars

They had appeared to be firmly on course for Oscar glory.

But Timothée Chalamet and Jessie Buckley may have dented their chances at Sunday's Academy Awards after their clumsy comments sparked backlash in the final stretch of the campaign.

In the modern awards race, success is no longer determined by the film alone, but by the careful management of a star's public persona.

Most nominees become notably cautious about what they say as voting closes in, but that has not been the case for Timothee and Jessie.

Within minutes, their remarks had sparked a flurry of online debate, threatening to overshadow the performances that had once put them firmly on the path to Oscar success.

Timothee has been a top contender for the Best Actor prize since Marty Supreme first dropped at the New York Film Festival in October 2025.

Meanwhile, Jessie is the favourite to win Best Actress for her standout performance as the grief-stricken Agnes Hathaway in Chloe Zhao's Hamnet.

This year's Oscars have already been decided with votes for the winners cast between February 26 and March 5.

The lucky nominees, who've spent the last month on the campaign trail, have nothing left to do but prepare their speeches.

But for some stars, they'll also be looking back and wondering if they accidentally sabotaged their own chances for a win.

Timothee was leading the way to secure an Oscar ahead of Michael B. Jordan and Leonardo DiCaprio after his movie became studio A24's highest-grossing film with $162.3m (£121.5m) worldwide

But that all changed on March 5, when his Variety interview with Matthew McConaughey was uploaded onto YouTube.

Now, he sits firmly in second place behind Michael on the prediction site Kalshi, which also showed the exact moment he fell from the top spot after the YouTube clip was posted. 

The actor was blasted after he said he does not want to work in ballet or opera as 'no one cares about it'.

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 criticism on social media from those in the two industries, including US opera singer Isabel Leonard.

Isabel wrote: '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.

'You don't have to like all art but only a weak person/artist feels the need to diminish in fact, the very arts that would inspire those who are interested in slowing down, to do exactly that.'

Choreographer Martin Chaix arguing that the art is 'very much alive'.

'If anything, in a world where AI is reshaping cinema faster than most realise, the unmediated human presence of ballet and opera becomes more essential, not less. I hope he finds his way into a theatre.'

The English National Ballet insisted the art is 'not only alive and well, but thriving'.

'Over 200,000 people joined our performances, experiencing the power of ballet,' it added in an Instagram post. 'Our social content saw over 65m impressions and we connected with thousands of people of all ages and walks of life through creative learning and participation.'

Meanwhile, Jessie faced backlash after revealing she had made her husband rehome his two pets earlier in their relationship.

In an interview from November that resurfaced, it showed the 36-year-old actress admitting she had given husband Freddie Sorensen an ultimatum before she agreed to move in with him - either get rid of his beloved cats or her.

In the original interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, she stated: 'I don't like cats,' while her Hamnet co-star Paul Mescal echoed, 'F*** cats,' as they both burst out laughing.

Jessie caught cat lovers' attention when she added: '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!'

On Thursday, the same day Oscar voting closed, Jessie desperately backtracked on her previous statement to clarify she is a lover of cats following the backlash.

She said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: '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.

'I want to just tell cat people, I actually auditioned to be a cat once. And there's been misconceptions because of an interview that I did.

They asked me if I was a dog or a cat [person] and I'm thinking I'm probably a quarter cat and three-quarters dog.'

The Hamnet star then confirmed she had auditioned for the Cats musical, but gave the 'worst' try-out of her life.

She grimaced and said: 'I'm making that face because honestly, I gave the worst audition of my life.

'Well, how do you be a cat?!… It was so hot. I was sweating. I was like licking my paw… Obviously, I didn't get it.'

Jessie has so far picked up all the awards she was nominated for this season, including a BAFTA, Golden Globe and Critics' Choice Award.

Concerned fans said they worried that Jessie's dislike of cats could backfire on her.

They wrote: 'Damage control. Oscar voting is over, but she needs to protect her future casting potential and box office success. She's a talented actress and I wouldn't necessarily boycott her if she made something I was interested in, but I'm not buying her change of heart,';

'not the damage control [crying face],'; 'To late miss..the harm is done ….you are done for cat lovers,';

'Desperately trying to save her Oscar campaign,'; 'Sorry jessie u just dont f*** with cats. Cats are everything.. that interview was questionable,';

'Figured this was coming but I think Oscar voting closed before airtime,'; 'That Oscar is secured.'

Fans are now eager to watch if she picks up her first Oscar on March 15, or if the feline community will claim victory.

Even if some of the debate over Jessie and Timothee's comments feels overblown, history suggests that off-screen controversies can really affect the outcome of an Oscar.

For example, Emilia Perez star Karla Sofria Gascon became the first-ever openly trans individual to be nominated for an Academy Award in any acting category.

She was tipped to win the award until a series of controversies erupted around her.

This ranged from negative comments about rival films' campaigns to facing accusations of racism and Islamophobia after old social media posts resurfaced.

Anora star Mikey Madison ultimately won the Oscar.

Before this, Russell Crowe reportedly damaged his appeal with Oscar voters by getting into a heated argument with the director of the BAFTAs. 

The actor, who had won Best Actor for A Beautiful Mind, was left raging that his acceptance speech had not been broadcast in full.

Michael Schulman, author of the 2023 book Oscar Wars, suggests that both Timothee and Jessie's backlash is simply 'a sign that Oscar season has gone on too long'.

'Everyone has had too many opportunities to be in front of a microphone talking about whatever's on their mind, and we're running out of things to say,' he told the BBC

While the Oscars are among the most prestigious prizes handed out, that doesn't mean they can't still be decided on a whim. 

Russell, who won Best Actor for Gladiator a year before the A Beautiful Mind incident, claimed the awards ceremony is now just a popularity contest.

He told an Australian radio station earlier this year: 'It's a popularity contest now, it's not really about quality.

'I don't really seek anybody in Los Angeles' approval, I couldn't give a s***.'