New York Magazine‘s latest cover story on children of famous and well-connected families, referred to as nepotism babies (nepo for short), has sparked conversation around the entire entertainment industry.
The fairly exhaustive list ranged from favorites like Dan Levy, Billie Lourd, and Liza Minnelli to “Who??” figures with famous last names like Sasha Spielberg and Ireland Baldwin.
Among this lengthy profile was a subsection of “industry babies”, folks not quite put on by their famous families but whose loved ones’ connections and industry know-how helped them along in some way.
This is where they start to reach a bit.
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Sprinkled in between the Deschanels, Gyllenhaals, and Brandy/Ray J power duo are folks like Phoebe Bridgers and Meghan Markle (noted as “Daughter of a set builder” and “Daughter of a lighting director” respectively).
One of the additions that the internet seems to find most egregious, however, is Timothée Chalamet. His parents are a former Le Parisien reporter and a former Broadway dancer-turned-dance and French professor at Yale; notable jobs, but seemingly nothing that would put him on the map.
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Related: Timothée Chalamet accidentally shut down this red carpet with a literal stan-pede
The real industry baby qualifications are apparently through his aunt and uncle, who are both writers and directors. Both have mainly worked in TV: his uncle Rodman Flender directed two episodes for each The Office, Ugly Betty, and MTV’s Scream TV series, as well as one Gilmore Girls episode and one The O.C. episode. His aunt co-created ’90s FOX sitcom Party Of Five, and that’s about it.
None of these scream “international film icon by 25”-creating accomplishments. Really, the only film claim in his family at all is his uncle’s direction of 1994’s Leprechaun 2. That might’ve actually counted as a mark against him if he’d tried to use it as a name-drop.
Though Chalamet has dated actual nepotism babies Lourdes Leon and Lily-Rose Depp — and could even probably claim his older Sex Lives of College Girls sister Pauline as a nepotistic dependent — it really seems like the actor launched through talent, luck, and the vague, general privilege that came with being an attractive upper-middle class cis white straight male in New York. (No shade!)
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Related: Leslie Jordan recreates Timothée Chalamet’s bare-chested Oscars look: Who wore it better?
If the stans have any say in it, he’ll be beating the nepo allegations indefinitely. As soon as the profile hit the internet the Chalamet Defense Squad rallied, ready to defend their favorite tinseltown twink against these heinous, horrid accusations.
They’re channeling the Iyanla Vanzant “Not on my watch!” gif:
an angel loses their wings every time someone says timothée chalamet is a nepo baby
— paige (@laurieslaurence) December 19, 2022
Timothée Chalamet catching Nepo Baby strays for being the NEPHEW of the director of LEPRECHAUN 2 is so unserious hsjdhsjsjsjs pic.twitter.com/XFB1Nwg3XW
— Zoë Rose Bryant (@ZoeRoseBryant) December 19, 2022
timothee chalamet is an INDUSTRY baby, not a NEPO baby *pushes all the tables and chairs away from me, and breaks windows with my mind*
— ؘ (@articIed) December 19, 2022
Leave Timothée out of his nepotism controversies, the only thing he ever did was date the two least talented nepo babys, THATS IT, he’s a hardworking artist!
— Dune II & Challengers era (@tashidonaldson_) December 19, 2022
academy award nominee Timothée Chalamet reading the nepo discourse unbothered probably pic.twitter.com/pkKATtt02t
— catherine (@caffffff) December 19, 2022
other nepo kids on the list: father built the empire state building with his bare hands, mother most popular singer in 67 different countries
timothee: dated madonna’s daughter in a high school known for famous alumni 😭
— annie ♱ (@fIashverse) December 20, 2022
mentioning gf nepotism too im crying by this logic we need joe alwyn on there too
— wengel (@wengelll) December 19, 2022
However, the best defense of all details just how hard he worked to make a name for himself:
timothée chalamet isn’t a nepo baby, he whored his way through nyc to get to where he is today
— 🕊 (@dunwaIl) December 20, 2022
King behavior!
Andrew
The industry calls them Dynasties. Drew Barrymore a great example. Multiple generations in the biz.
Guy626
Yeah but in those cases they usually have talent and the ones mentioned here talent is– well let’s just if it wasnt for nepotism…
CatholicXXX
The whole cast of girls are Nepo babies. Zero talent.
thebaddestbabby
apart from the drama, there’s a larger point in the “nepo baby” discourse: fewer and fewer lower- and middle-income people’s children are able to have any career in the arts. The arts are increasingly becoming a place for people who have had support from their parents/relatives that most people cannot afford to give to their kids.
In this sense, Timothee Chamalamadingdong is a nepo baby
(Also, do any gays actually care about this guy? Isn’t he just for straight female teenagers?)
Winsocki
You are correct, I do not see the allure. He is too skinny twinky and hate his flopsy mopsy hair don’ts . But others favor the starving Prada Creature looks.
mikhailmaui
Who cares if either of you see the allure. Some of us, GASP, gay guys, do see the allure. Going to med school or law school is also expensive and many of those students are following in their parents footsteps. Are they nepo babies? All this ‘woke’ crap is getting out of hand. No wonder the ‘right’ thinks the left is crazy.
thebaddestbabby
you can’t blame everything on “woke.” And if you think the right is right, well, that says a lot about you and it ain’t pretty. For decades now people in America are realizing that the ideals of this country are hollow when it comes to wealth, access to schooling and careers, etc etc. The New Deal was strategically destroyed by all sorts of politicians, and along with it public funding for the arts. Sure, it may not be the worst thing that Timotheee Chalmmelmet is famous, but it’s the tip of an iceberg that people experience every day in their lives and you probably do too.
bsg1967
Either from nepotism or they come from wealth the advantages are clear and understandable to postulate anything else is laughable.
Kangol2
Chalamet’s maternal grandmother Enid Flender was a former Broadway dancer, and his maternal grandfather Harold Flender was a writer and screenwriter. It isn’t just his uncle, Rodman Flender, and aunt Amy Lippman. He’s TWO generations into this world, not just one by extension. Real facts are easy to find online….
lykeitiz
And when his aunt co-created “Party of Five”, a star-making show, that hardly makes Chalamet an outsider. They can make fun of “Leprechaun 2” all they want.
quantum
Folks on the internet be dumb when they don’t realize “wealthy, New York intellectual” is a kind of celebrity. I do enjoy a lot of his movies, though. Remains to be seen if he can grow past his brooding twink phase.
Brian
This term is already so exhausting. People toss it around carelessly, without any nuance.
There’s a big difference between the people who got a head start and a leg up (like Chalamet) and the people whose entire career exists *only* because of power and influence (like Ivanka Trump).
Can we please have fewer headlines like this? All the newspapers are doing it. Find something else to talk about.
thebaddestbabby
and yet you want to keep talking about Ivanka Trump? People care about the “nepo baby” because it resonates with their lives. We all know people who are much more successful than us despite not being recognizably more talented. A lot of them have advantages due to wealth and/or family connections
mikhailmaui
Most, if not all so called ‘nepo babies’ do not last long in the industry if they are not talented. Those who do become successful are the ones who can actually walk the walk.
thebaddestbabby
yeah but if you’ve spent time in/around hollywood you will know that there are TONS of mediocre, basically talentless people in the biz who are only really there because of family money and family connections
Donston
I mean, I don’t know why people are treating this like new news. Everyone has known that his parents are in the industry, he went to an expensive school of performing arts, and that he freakin’ “dated” Madonna’s daughter when he was like 14 or some sh*t. That, along with growing up to be a cute twink and having some talent, gave him a career. But this is something that has been so typical in the entertainment industry for decades.
quantum
He went to a free, public high school of performing arts. I went to one of those, and though we were poor as f***, it opened a lot of doors for me. No surpise, though, the most famous graduate from the last decade was very talented, but also the child of a somewhat-famous person.
lykeitiz
An article with actual numbers would be interesting.
For example, taking the top 10 movie & TV stars of the 80’s & 90’s, counting their family ties, and then comparing it to today.
Jack
Timothée Chalamet is not gay. Timothée Chalamet is not a gay icon. The Nepo Baby narrative is whatever….but why does Queerty obsess about a few celebrities that have ZERO connection to the queer community other than one gay role. Or even less connection.
Guy626
Thank you! The worst part is this label encourages him and his PR team to keep baiting so he’ll stay relevant.
Donston
Let’s not act dense. He was the lead of one of the few most famous “gay movies” of the past 20 years. And he’s a conventionally “pretty” white boy. Both those things are definitely enough for this site to constantly talk about someone no matter their connections to queerness. We know this.
storm45701
Wait until people hear that 70% of people in the United States claim a connection got them their job. Networking. Only the truly talented will survive, though; hereditary businesses excepted (Think Ford; Trump). It really is who you know or who you blow. Rumor is, this “Chamalamadingdong” blew a lot.
LegionKeign
The only “nepos” we should be worried about are the jack-offs in POLITICS who screw us over.
Man About Town
I don’t understand why Mr. Grey is losing his sh*t over this silly nonsense. “egregious”? “heinous, horrid accusations”? BFD! I’m sure Mr. Chalamet has bigger fish to fry than to care about nepotism.
Terrycloth
Mr Chalamet is bright young man who is rich , very talented and makes great acting choices in his career..his young adult awkardness is part of his charm..he’s grounded. Who cares who his parents know or if they pull some strings here & there. That wouldn’t do any good if Timothee didn’t have talent.which he does..he gets better with each new project…
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