Want to make yourself the center of attention — without people thinking you’re a bad person?
“Jealous Type” singer Doja Cat has revealed a trick long-favored by celebrities when weighing in on the latest scandal — and you don’t even have to know anything about the topic at hand.
Welcome to the wonderful world of virtue signaling.
‘What I was doing yesterday was virtue signaling … something that I could leverage.’
The pop star’s revelation came after actor Timothée Chalamet appeared on a CNN & Variety town hall, where he ruffled feathers with his passing remarks on the commercial irrelevance of opera and ballet.
“I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera or, you know, things where it’s like, ‘Hey, keep this thing alive!'” Chalamet said to co-host Matthew McConaughey.
Whiny dancer
The comments prompted backlash from many in the entertainment industry, including Doja Cat — real name Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini — who lashed out at Chalamet in a TikTok video.
After mocking the actor, she claimed that “people [do] give a f**k” about opera and ballet, and she praised its decorum.
“You show up in a nice outfit. You sit the f**k down and shut the f**k up,” she said. “That’s the usual etiquette around those things. Maybe learn something from that.”
Mea culpa
Just one day later, however, Dlamini was singing a different tune.
“I know nothing about opera. I know nothing about ballet,” she offered in a short, contrite follow-up.
“I’ve never been to a ballet. I’ve never seen an opera,” she revealed. “And I took it upon myself yesterday to kind of give it to the man because there is a culture based around outrage and things like that, and people want to feel like they’re part of something. It’s a need to connect, whether good or bad,” she added.
Dlamini then took her confession a step further and told fans she was only doing it for views.
RELATED: Timothée Chalamet is right: Opera and ballet are dying — and you’ll never guess why
Rare honesty
The blunt confession was a rare moment of honesty in a culture generally concerned with trading outrage for clicks.
“What I was doing yesterday was virtue signaling because I wanted to connect, and I knew that Timothée’s goof-up was something that I could leverage in order for people to connect with me and f**k with me,” the Los Angeles native went on.
“And it’s easy. It’s a modern way to garner clicks, likes, approval, and all kinds of things like that from people. And so I did that yesterday, and I didn’t really think about why I was doing it.”
RELATED: Gene Simmons’ advice for celeb activists Ben Stiller, Mark Ruffalo: ‘Shut the f**k up’
Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
‘Wanted a hug’
“That was the perfect material for me to seem sincere. But the truth is, I don’t know anything about opera. I don’t know anything about ballet, and I’ve never been to either shows,” she said.
The 30-year-old also displayed some vulnerability when she discussed the deeper motivations behind her reaction.
“I think I just wanted a hug. I think that’s all that I wanted. I wanted a hug. I wanted to feel like I was part of something bigger than myself. I wanted to be pat on the back the way everybody else is patting each other on the back in the comments sections. And I wanted to look like a hero, and that’s what happened. And when I got it, I didn’t like it so much,” she said.
The half-Jewish, half-South African has been wildly successful over just five studio albums. She has gone platinum five times between 2019 and 2023, with her music gaining recognition in Switzerland, Sweden, and Great Britain.
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