Entertainment

Placido Domingo resigns from opera union and donates £420,000

The development came weeks after investigations found sexual harassment allegations against the famed tenor to be credible.
The development came weeks after investigations found sexual harassment allegations against the famed tenor to be credible. The development came weeks after investigations found sexual harassment allegations against the famed tenor to be credible.

Music superstar Placido Domingo has resigned from the US union that represents opera singers and will contribute 500,000 dollars (£420,000) to sexual harassment eradication programmes and a fund that helps opera employees in crisis, the union said.

The development came weeks after investigations by the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) and Los Angeles Opera found sexual harassment allegations against the famed tenor, 79, to be credible.

The investigations were launched after the publication of Associated Press stories last year in which multiple women accused Domingo of harassment and abusing his power while he held management positions at LA Opera and Washington National Opera.

AGMA announced that its four-month investigation found Domingo had “engaged in inappropriate activity, ranging from flirtation to sexual advances, in and outside of the workplace”.

Details of the allegations were not released, but sources said investigators found 27 people were sexually harassed or had witnessed inappropriate behaviour by Domingo in the 1990s and 2000s.

LA Opera said its investigators had received 10 accusations that Domingo engaged in “inappropriate conduct” with women between 1986 and 2019.

Domingo helped found LA Opera in the 1980s and led the company as general director from 2003 until last October, when he stepped down after the allegations surfaced.

In announcing Domingo’s resignation, AGMA also said the union had withdrawn disciplinary charges filed against the singer as a result of its investigation. Disciplinary action could have ranged from fines to expulsion.