After more than a dozen women accused famed Spanish opera singer and conductor Plácido Domingo of various forms of sexual harassment, he has officially departed the Metropolitan Opera and ceased future involvement. Per the New York Times, Domingo withdrew from the Met on Tuesday morning, just one day before the opening of Verdi’s Macbeth. “While I strongly dispute recent allegations made about me, and I am concerned about a climate in which people are condemned without due process, upon reflection I believe that my appearance in this production of Macbeth would distract from the hard work of my colleagues both onstage and behind the scenes,” Domingo said in a statement. “As a result, I have asked to withdraw and I thank the leadership of the Met for graciously granting my request.” The Met, in an additional statement, said Domingo had “agreed to withdraw.”
Twenty women have come forward to claim Domingo had sexually harassed them over the course of a 30-year period. The bulk of the allegations state that Domingo pressured them into sexual acts for career advancement, and if they refused, he would retaliate by punishing them professionally.
