Timothée Chalamet faced heavy backlash online after promoting Kalshi in a one-minute ad directed by Linus Sandgren. The controversy follows Kalshi’s past legal disputes and allegations involving death-related markets and insider trading.
Timothée Chalamet knows how to make an ad feel like a moment. Thursday, though, his latest pitch for prediction market platform Kalshi landed with a thud.
The “Dune” actor shared a new one-minute advertisement that name-dropped Kalshi in everyday scenes. The spot was directed by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Linus Sandgren and ends each segment with “Kalshi” flashing on screen.
In one clip, Chalamet repeats the betting-platform name to his dentist while a procedure is being done. In another. the “Willy Wonka” star argues with his upstairs neighbors. banging his head on the ceiling to get them to quiet down. The ad ends with him trying out keyboards in a Guitar Center. with “Kalshi” appearing at the conclusion of each segment.
Online reaction overwhelmingly didn’t buy it—at least not in Chalamet’s favor.
One Instagram commenter wrote, “Had to pay for those courtside seats somehow,” pointing to the fact that Chalamet has sat courtside at nearly every New York Knicks game of the NBA Finals. On X, another user said, “Dune funds couldn’t have dried up that fast.”
Criticism escalated quickly, too. A user posting as Quinn (@qomall23) wrote, “Ruining a multi year generational run for Kalshi is crazy,” while another replied to Chalamet’s tweet: “Come on bro anything but shilling these predatory prediction markets.”
Others leaned into a darker tone. “Bro sold his soul,” one user wrote.
Kalshi has described itself as a prediction market where users can bet on everything from game outcomes to world news. The platform has also faced controversy over markets that appeared to involve death-related themes, leading to legal action. Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour later clarified that the company does not list markets directly tied to death.
The debate has also spilled into politics. Some politicians—including George Santos—have been accused of using Kalshi as a tool for insider trading and for skewing elections.
Chalamet’s ad has become part of that larger argument. The spot drew comparisons to earlier, off-the-wall marketing he did for his Academy Award-nominated ping-pong movie “Marty Supreme,” including the time he climbed atop the Sphere and pitched a marketing campaign in a since-viral Zoom call.
By Thursday night, the pattern that stuck wasn’t the humor—it was the backlash. Users questioned why the actor was promoting a platform that has already been mired in controversy, with one reply to his tweet asking, “why did you do this man, i thought you wanted to be the best.”
At least for now, the endorsement has turned into a headline of its own—and not the kind Chalamet was hoping for.
Timothée Chalamet Kalshi prediction market Linus Sandgren Dune Willy Wonka Marty Supreme New York Knicks NBA Finals George Santos internet backlash