“La Boheme,” “La Traviata,” “Madama Butterfly” — opera is filled with women sacrificed at the thematic altar of “too little, too late.”
And now we have Plácido Domingo’s “apology.”
Last summer, when two Associated Press stories recounted allegations by 20 women that they had been groped, kissed, sexually badgered and harassed by Domingo who used his unique position of influence to coerce meetings and silence any complaint, Domingo’s spokeswoman responded by saying that the “campaign by the AP to denigrate Plácido Domingo is not only inaccurate but unethical,” that the claims were riddled with inconsistencies” and “in many ways, simply incorrect.”
Earlier this week, however, the world-renowned tenor changed his tune.
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Not because he had seen the light, but because his guild had.
An investigation by the American Guild of Musical Artists concluded that Domingo had, for 20 years, engaged in a pattern of “inappropriate activity” and that many witnesses had kept silent for years in “fear of retaliation”; as that conclusion was made public, suddenly Domingo decided that he was, after all, really, really sorry.
Or as his statement read: “I have taken time over the last several months to reflect on the allegations that various colleagues of mine have made against me. I respect that these women finally felt comfortable enough to speak out, and I want them to know that I am truly sorry for the hurt that I caused them.
“I accept full responsibility for my actions, and I have grown from this experience. I understand now that some women may have feared expressing themselves honestly because of a concern that their careers would be adversely affected if they did so. While that was never my intention, no one should ever be made to feel that way.
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“I am committed to affecting positive change in the opera industry so that no one else has to have that same experience. It is my fervent wish that the result will be a safer place to work for all in the opera industry, and I hope that my example moving forward will encourage others to follow.”
Honestly, it’s enough to make Don Giovanni blush.
I’m sure we’re all relieved to know that Domingo has “grown” from this experience — that’s what it’s all about right? — though exactly what “example” he hopes others will follow is unclear. Deny, deny deny and then when absolutely forced to, apologize? The notion that he’s spent the last few months reflecting on anything but how to minimize any damage the accusations will have on his career seems, at best, overly optimistic.
Domingo is not the first man who, upon being accused of misconduct by multiple women, offered the semi-self-congratulatory announcement that he had given the matter some thought. “Realizing” that it is unacceptable to grope, kiss, flash, talk dirty to or masturbate in front of employees, co-workers or any person who is not, by mutual consent, your sexual partner is in fact, a signature of far too many #MeToo apologies.
After being accused of sexual harassment by eight women, Charlie Rose said he “learned a great deal as a result of these events, and I hope others will too.” Louis C.K., who spent years vehemently denying rumors that he had masturbated in front of female colleagues, finally non-apologized by saying that he had thought masturbating in front of co-workers was OK because he had asked first, only to learn “later in life ... that when you have power over another person, asking them [to watch you masturbate] isn’t a question. It’s a predicament for them.”
The fact that Domingo believes “the learning curve” argument will still fly is infuriating. As is his insistence that for 20 years he remained serenely unaware of how unwelcome his pattern of uninvited and insinuating advances were to many women, or that they were allowed to continue unchecked because he was Plácido Domingo and all that implies.
Indeed, mere hours after it landed, yet another woman, soprano Luz del Alba Rubio, came forward to the Associated Press with another set of accusations. Not surprising, considering that Domingo’s apology was less an apology than a near-letter-perfect example of damage control.
All the boxes checked — respect (for his accusers), regret (for any hurt he caused them) and repentance (the commitment to “affecting” positive change) — and signifying nothing. There was absolutely no concrete example of how he was planning to “affect” change. Unless you count the leaked email from the president of the guild reported in the New York Times, about Domingo’s lawyers withdrawing an offer of a $500,000 payment to the guild if the group could manage to keep details of the investigation from going public.
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Perhaps not the best example of ensuring that the music world become a safer place.
If Domingo were truly sorry, he would put his money where his very famous, and now infamous, mouth is by doing something — paying the $500 grand anyway, setting up a program to support women at all levels in opera or an initiative to raise consciousness about sexual harassment in the music world.
Or he could spend some time in actual reflection and then offer a more honest apology. For benefiting from and shoring up a system in which power is rewarded and sustained by an ecosystem in which an anointed few have the ability to grant or withhold favors that can impact careers and entire institutions. Professional harassment is one of the most effective ways of ensuring that that system remains controlled by the few, and sexual harassment is the most effective way of ensuring that those few remain mostly men.
Wouldn’t it be great if Domingo behaved like an actual maestro and said, “I’m sorry I acted like a complete pig but at some point I started to believe that my talent put me above obvious social niceties and professional decorum, that my ability to make some people rich and other people stars meant I was granted special access to everything including the bodies of women whose careers I could influence. It shouldn’t have taken 27, wait, 28 women and a guild investigation to make me understand I can’t do whatever I want but it did and I’m sorry.”
There are many conversations to be had about the complicity we all play in creating “stars,” whose ugly actions we overlook or justify because of their ability to create exceptional art and beauty, and certainly sex is a force of both creativity and commerce. But using a position of power and influence to gain physical access to people is not sex, it’s abuse.
So if you’re going to apologize for abusing your power, then apologize for abusing your power. If you’re not, then don’t.
Either way, as the statue said to Don Giovanni: Ah! tempo più non v’è.
Your time is up.
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February 27, 2020 at 08:20AM
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Column: Plácido Domingo has apologized, but I do not buy it - Los Angeles Times
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