Netrebko defies #MeToo hounds with racy VIDEO of her with Domingo, teases joint performance

Opera star Placido Domingo, who stands accused of sexual harassment by nine women, got a public endorsement from fellow stage regina Anna Netrebko, who said she will be sharing it with the accused singer.

“So happy to return to Metropolitan Opera in September to perform one of my favorite Verdi role[s], Macbeth, and share stage with fantastic Placido Domingo!” Netrebko said in an Instagram post.

The remark was included with a clip from the 2018 production of the Verdi opera, in which the two starred as the Shakespearean villainous power couple. The scene Netrebko chose is somewhat racy, with the Macbeths getting handsy with each other. Which may well be a not-so-veiled message to Domingo’s detractors.

The Spanish tenor turned baritone was swept up in the #MeToo flood last week after Associated Press published accounts, most of them by anonymous accusers, who said the 78-year-old inappropriately touched and kissed them as far back as the 1980s.

The singer said the allegations were “deeply troubling, and as presented, inaccurate.”

Netrebko was not the only one who came to Domingo’s defense as more than two dozen fellow singers publicly voiced their support to the veteran performer. Mezzo-soprano Violeta Urmana called him “the kindest and most correct person,” while soprano Sonya Yoncheva described Domingo as “a real gentleman” and a “charming and peaceful human being.”

Puerto Rican diva Ana Maria Martinez, who worked with the tenor for more than two decades, said he always treated her with “dignity and respect.”

Some opera houses, like the San Francisco Opera, quickly canceled Domingo’s appearances after the story broke, but the Royal Theater in Madrid stood by the famous compatriot. His upcoming performances in a number of European cities were not called off either – including his scheduled appearance at the Salzburg Festival in Austria in late August. “I would find it factually wrong and morally irresponsible to make irreversible judgments at this point,” the festival’s president, Helga Rabl-Stadler, said.

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