Kylie Jenner was Timothée Chalamet’s plus one at the 2026 Oscars, just as she was at the Golden Globe and Critics' Choice ceremonies earlier in the latest Hollywood awards season.
However, the reality star fulfilled a much bigger role at the Academy Awards event than she did during any other soirée.
Chalamet faced his fate on Sunday as he fielded a joke from host Conan O’Brien referencing his late February remarks about the relevance of opera and ballet.
Highlights
- A body language expert claims Kylie Jenner appeared ‘maternal’ and ‘protective’ toward Timothée Chalamet after Conan O'Brien joked about his controversial opera and ballet comments during the Academy Awards.
- Chalamet seemed to take the joke in stride with a wide smile, though the expert described.
- Despite being a favorite after wins at the Golden Globe Awards and Critics' Choice Awards, Chalamet lost Best Actor at the Oscars.
A body language expert has now broken down how Jenner attempted to protect her partner of three years when the comedian roasted him.
Kylie Jenner reportedly slipped into a ‘maternal’ role to protect Timothée Chalamet from the Oscars host’s gag
Image credits: kyliejenner
Speaking to Matthew McConaughey last month, the Marty Supreme star praised ongoing efforts to preserve the cinema-going experience but added, “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 them anymore.”
“All respect to the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost 14 cents in viewership,” he continued, before acknowledging, “I took shots for no reason.”
Chalamet’s comment was called “tone deaf” and “thoroughly unthinkable” by netizens, sparking intense backlash.
Image credits: vanityfair
During his Oscars monologue, O’Brien referenced Chalamet’s views, jesting, “Security is extremely tight tonight. I just gotta mention that. I’m told there are concerns about attacks from both the opera and ballet communities.”
As cameras cut to the actor, he appeared to be taking the joke in stride, flashing a wide smile.
A body language expert named James told The Daily Mail that Chalamet’s response was “quite submissive.”
Kylie, however, “leaned over him protectively, flashing a maternal-looking warning expression from her eyes as well as a tolerant and calm-looking mouth smile,” James noted.
Image credits: Rich Polk/Getty Images
He went on to infer that while Chalamet “opened his mouth wider in an expression of embarrassment and nodded slowly in a gesture of recognition and acceptance” amid O’Brien’s performance, Jenner appeared “less comfortable, clenching and unclenching her hands before performing one very odd, loud clap, suggesting a desire to get the joke over and move on.”
The controversy came as Chalamet was nominated for Best Actor for his role in Marty Supreme.
However, he failed to secure the win despite taking home top acting prizes at several precursor award ceremonies
Chalamet won Best Actor at the Golden Globes and Critics' Choice Awards in January and was considered one of the favorites among the Oscars’ Best Actor nominees, which included Ethan Hawke for Blue Moon, Leonardo DiCaprio for One Battle After Another, Michael B. Jordan for Sinners, and Wagner Moura for The Secret Agent.
Jordan took home the coveted gold man after initially appearing shocked as last year’s winner, Adrien Brody, announced his name.
Image credits: ABC
“I stand here because of the people who came before me: Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jamie Foxx, Forest Whitaker, and Will Smith,” he said in his acceptance speech.
“Thank you to everybody in this room and everybody at home for supporting me over my career. I feel it,” he added.
Image credits: vanityfair
The victory marked Jordan’s first Oscar win and nomination.
Chalamet, meanwhile, has been nominated for Best Actor three times — for Call Me by Your Name, A Complete Unknown, and most recently Marty Supreme — but has yet to secure his first Oscar.
Chalamet’s 2026 Oscars loss came after an Academy insider predicted it
Image credits: ABC
In a March 11 interview with The US Sun, a source claiming to be “a member of the Academy for 12 years” suggested that Timothée Chalamet’s arrogant streak may have hurt his chances at the Oscars.
Besides the opera and ballet comment, the actor, notably, got backlash for calling his performance in Marty Supreme his “best” when speaking to journalist Margaret Gardiner in December.
In the interview, he added that he has been “handing in really, really committed, top-of-the-line performances” for the past seven to eight years.
Interpreting the remark as Chalamet being overly confident, a netizen at the time wrote, “It is a wild thing to say.”
“I’m glad that my gut always told me not to like him,” another shared.
Before this, Chalamet’s speech at the 2025 Screen Actors Guild Awards was perceived as brash after he admitted he aspires to be “one of the greats” in the industry.
Not only social media users but “most of the voters” were also debating Chalamet’s attitude, according to the insider, who added, “it's never a good thing.”
“You don’t want people talking about you during award season for anything other than your performance,” they added.
"Karma came quick. He thought it only cost him 14 cents; it turns out it cost him an Oscar," a netizen said about Chalamet's opera and ballet remark
