Culture acknowledges that Plácido Domingo overrode the veto by acting on public stages after accusations of harassment

The Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta, has recognized that the Ministry vetoed the performances of Plácido Domingo in Spanish public stages despite the fact that the singer has continued to perform up to almost a dozen times since 2020.

“The singer was in a situation deserved an answer”, said Iceta in statements to ‘Onda Cero’, who explained that the veto of the singer was made when the tenor had recognized cases of bullyingand the same “accepted that he had engaged in unacceptable behavior“.

The position of Culture has been open since February 2020, when the department was directed by José Manuel Rodríguez-Uribes, and the then minister announced the cancellations of the tenor’s performances in May at the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid. With this decision, Spain became the first European country to veto it.

The decision was made after the two investigations launched in the United States – the Los Angeles Opera and the American Guild of Music Artists (AGMA) – concluded that the allegations of harassment by several opera singers against the tenor were “credible” and in the case of the latest report, the tenor had tried to “soften” the outcome with a $500,000 settlement.

Shortly before the result of the AGMA report was made public, in February 2020, Domingo sent a statement in which he accepted “full responsibility” for his actions, after “several months” of reflection, and He apologized “for the pain caused” to all the women who have accused him. “I have taken some time to reflect on the accusations that various colleagues have made against me. (…) I accept full responsibility for my actions,” said the singer, director and manager.

Act in public spaces thanks to private foundations

‘eldiario.es‘ publishes an article today in which he details how, despite this veto, the singer has been able to act thanks to private foundations and other intermediaries on a dozen occasions in public settings such as the Palau de las Arts (Valencia), the National Auditorium or the Teatro Real, both in Madrid.

The hiring was not done directly through these public institutions, but through third parties. In the case of the Palau de las Arts -which depends on the Generalitat Valenciana- it did receive public money, close to 100,000 euros in December 2019 for its cache in “Nabucco”.

“We live in a rule of law, which governs the presumption of innocence, if there are no court rulings you have to be extraordinarily careful, but the singer apologized and compensated a victim,” Iceta said.

The singer, instead, he has not performed in the United States again since the accusations and the results of the investigations were made public, although it has continued to act regularly in Europe and other countries. According to the tenor’s website, the singer has scheduled performances in the coming months on stages in Tokyo, Florence, Budapest, Mexico, Turkey and Austria.

Salvados gives voice to several women who denounced the tenor

The article made public today comes after Salvados gave voice to several women who have denounced the tenor -there have been close to thirty in various countries-, and included the Testimony of a Spanish singer He did not want to reveal his identity.

“He asked me a very strange question in front of the whole world: ‘Can I put your hand in that nice pants pocket?‘”, he explained in the program, indicating that it was one that was located in the back. This was not the only time that he experienced an episode of this type. “It was in full function. There was an end of the act in which the stage turned black, and in those moments in which the eye takes time to get used to the darkness, Plácido approached me and kissed me on the mouth.“he also recounted.