Timothée Chalamet upset fans online Thursday by promoting controversial prediction market platform Kalshi in a new advertisement.
The one-minute ad was directed by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Linus Sandgren and featured the “Dune” actor name-dropping Kalshi in innocuous situations.
Chalamet repeats the name of the betting platform to his dentist while getting a procedure done. The next clip sees the “Willy Wonka” actor beefing with his upstairs neighbors and banging his head on the ceiling to get them to quiet down. And finally, the actor tests out some keyboards in a Guitar Center. “Kalshi” flashed across the screen at the end of each segment.
Online reaction overwhelmingly did not support the actor’s latest endorsement.
“Had to pay for those courtside seats somehow,” one user commented on his Instagram post, referencing how Chalamet has sat courtside at nearly every New York Knicks game of the NBA Finals.
“Dune funds couldn’t have dried up that fast,” another user wrote on X.
Ruining a multi year generational run for Kalshi is crazy
— Quinn (@qomall23) June 11, 2026
Kalshi has described itself as a prediction market that allows users to bet on anything from game outcomes to world news. The platform sparked controversy for what seemed like a death bet, leading to legal action against them. Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour has since clarified that the company does not list markets directly tied to death.
Some politicians like George Santos have even been accused of using the prediction market platform as a means for insider trading and skewing their own elections.
Chalamet’s advertisement resembles some of the off-the-wall marketing he did for his Academy Award-nominated ping-pong movie “Marty Supreme.” The star climbed atop the Sphere and pitched his own marketing campaign in a since-viral Zoom call.
“Come on bro anything but shilling these predatory prediction markets,” another user replied to Chalamet’s tweet Thursday.
why did you do this man, i thought you wanted to be the best
— onion person (@CantEverDie) June 11, 2026
“Bro sold his soul,” another user said.
