Misty Copeland broke out some major ballet moves at the Oscars.
The ballerina joined Sinners cast members Miles Caton, Jayme Lawson, and Li Jun Li onstage for a musical number at the 98th Academy Awards. Caton, who plays a young, gifted blues musician named Sammie Moore in the film, crooned the Oscar-nominated film’s iconic tune “I Lied to You” while an all-star roundup of musicians and performers replicated its juke joint dance scene. Jack O’Connell also made a cameo as his character Remmick, vampire teeth and all.
Just as it was in Ryan Coogler‘s horror-thriller, the Oscars’ musical number combined Delta Blues with rock-and-roll, hip-hop and more, creating a genre-blending, time-traveling celebration of Black music’s history and ancestral ties. Joining the Sinners cast onstage for the number were Raphael Saadiq, Shaboozey, Brittany Howard, Eric Gales, Buddy Guy, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Bobby Rush, and Alice Smith.
Copeland’s performance comes less than a week after calling out Best Actor nominee Timothée Chalamet for his disparaging comments about both ballet and opera, which the actor said are two art forms “no one cares” for anymore.
Misty Copeland performs at the 2026 Oscars.
Credit: Rob Latour/Shutterstock
The dancer said in a March 9 TikTok video she found it “interesting” that Chalamet invited her to help promote his Oscar-nominated film Marty Supreme “with respect to my art form.”
Copeland, along with other celebrities such as Tom Brady, Kid Cudi, and Kendall Jenner, was photographed wearing a navy windbreaker featuring the film’s title.
“But 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,” Copeland continued. “But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have enduring relevance in culture.”
The ballerina said that it is “often mistaken when something is popular that it’s meaningful or more impactful”; however, Copeland added, “there’s a reason that the opera and ballet have been around for over 400 years.”
Copeland’s final note to Chalamet was that the Complete Unknown star wouldn’t have the opportunities he’s achieved thus far if not for “opera and ballet in their relevance in that medium.”
“So all of these mediums have a space, and we shouldn’t be comparing them,” Copeland concluded.
Timothee Chalamet at the 2026 Annual Actor Awards on March 1
Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
Chalamet has drawn the ire of both the theater community and creative professionals overall since his comments during a Variety and CNN Town Hall in February went viral on social media. During a conversation with Matthew McConaughey, the Wonka actor discussed the challenges the film industry faces in movie theaters.
“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,'” Chalamet said to McConaughey. “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.”
Chalamet then mentioned other performing arts, sharing, “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 it’s like, no one cares about this anymore.”
“All respect to the ballet and opera people out there,” Chalamet — whose grandmother, mother, and sister are professional dancers who have performed with the New York City Ballet — added.
Chalamet’s comments have sparked strong responses from the ballet and opera communities, including the London Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera, as well as celebrities such as Steven Spielberg and Doja Cat.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly