For decades, Placido Domingo, one of the most powerful men in the opera world, has been trying to pressure women into having sex with him by offering them jobs and then punishing them professionally if they denied him.
Numerous brave accusers came forward and told the Associated Press what happened to them when they went to work for Domingo.
Domingo is thought of as one of the greatest opera singers of all time as well as being a conductor and director of the fames Los Angeles Opera. He has won multiple Grammy awards.
Despite his professional success and acclaim, his accusers say that it has been a longstanding open secret in the opera profession that Domingo, who has been married for a long time, is professionally and sexually abusive.
Eight singers and a dancer told the AP that they were sexually harassed by Domingo over three decades beginning in the late 1980s, at venues that included opera companies where he held top managerial positions. He rigorously tried to use his star power and authority to pressure women into having sex with him.
One accuser said Domingo stuck his hand down her skirt and three others said he forced wet kisses on their lips — in a dressing room, a hotel room and at a lunch meeting, the AP reported.
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Six other women, in addition to the nine women already mentioned, told the AP that Domino repeatedly asked one singer out on dates after hiring her to sing a series of concerts with him in the 1990s.
Almost three dozen other singers, dancers, orchestra musicians, members of backstage staff, voice teachers and an administrator said they witnessed inappropriate sexually inappropriate behavior by Domingo and that he harassed younger women constantly, according to AP News.
Domingo denied the allegations and then tried to excuse his behavior by claiming that things are “very different” in the present.
I recognize that the rules and standards by which we are — and should be — measured against today are very different than they were in the past. I am blessed and privileged to have had a more than 50-year career in opera and will hold myself to the highest standards.”
The LA Opera told AP News it is hiring outside counsel to investigate.
