Kardashian curse explained as Kylie Jenner blamed for Timothée Chalamet’s Oscar loss

Despite a promising award season so far, last night saw Timothée Chalamet tragically robbed of his first-ever Academy Award win.

Oddly, the actor's Oscars heartache has triggered the reemergence of a long-standing online rumour that alleges girlfriend Kylie Jenner is to blame.

Known as both the 'Kardashian Curse' or the 'Bad Luck Theory', the controversial pop culture trope basically professes that, once a celebrity has been in a public relationship with the Kardashian-Jenner family for some time, their professional career slowly starts to tank.

It seemed to stem from Kim Kardashian's split from ex-husband and basketball player Kris Humphries, whose career took a beating following their split. This also proved to be the case when the SKIMS boss called off her relationship with football player Reggie Bush.

The curse dates back to Kim's earliest relationships (Kevin Winter/NBCUniversal/Getty Images)

Both Lamar Odom and Tristan Thompson have also been called out after injuries and inconsistent performances impacted their sporting careers during or immediately following their relationship with Kylie's other big sister, Khloe Kardashian.

Kylie, 28, even addressed the 'Kardashian curse' during an episode of her family's hit reality TV series, The Kardashians, some years earlier.

"The Kardashian curse is every male figure that comes and dates a Kardashian," she joked at the time. "Their life kind of just goes downhill after that."

That said, however, there's next to no viable evidence behind the conspiracy theory, making it more of a coincidence or stereotype than a reality.

Despite this, the theory keeps celebrity gossip fans in a chokehold each and every time it rears its ugly head - including this week.

Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor (Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

After Tyla broke the news that Chalamet had lost out on the Best Actor accolade to Sinners actor Michael B. Jordan, one Facebook user suggested in response: "[It's] The Kardashian curse."

Kylie and her actor beau were subjected to the same speculation last year, when Chalamet lost out on Best Actor for the first time, after being nominated for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown.

Critics questioned at the time whether the movie star, having brought the mother-of-two along to the festivities, may have played a part.

"Everyone saying he's going to lose because he brought her," one joked. Another added: "They told him don't bring Kylie she got that Kardashian curse."

Maybe next year, Timmy (JEAN BAPTISTE LACROIX/Getty Images)

Despite this, the couple, who first went public in 2023, appeared to have 'beat' the curse earlier this year, when Chalamet, 30, walked away with both a Critics Choice and a Golden Globe for his role in sport comedy-drama Marty Supreme.