'It was not gentle.' Singer says opera legend Placido Domingo groped her before a performance. She's one of 11 women to come forward after an Aug. 13 AP story in which numerous other women accused the Spanish-born superstar of inappropriate conduct.
FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 14, 1999 file photo, Placido Domingo acknowledges the audience after receiving the 1999 Hispanic Heritage Award at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. An evening before a performance of “Le Cid,” part of the Washington Opera’s 1999-2000 season, opera singer Angela Turner Wilson said she and Domingo were having their makeup done together when he rose from his chair, stood behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.
“It hurt,” she told The Associated Press. “It was not gentle. He groped me hard.” She said Domingo then turned and walked away, leaving her stunned and humiliated. Taken together, their stories reinforce a picture of an industry in which Domingo’s behavior was an open secret and young women were left to fend for themselves in the workplace.“The ongoing campaign by the AP to denigrate Placido Domingo is not only inaccurate but unethical. These new claims are riddled with inconsistencies and, as with the first story, in many ways, simply incorrect,” spokeswoman Nancy Seltzer said.
Wilson said she was spurred to come forward after the 78-year-old Domingo’s reaction to the AP’s initial story, in which he said he believed his actions “were always welcomed and consensual” and added that “the rules and standards by which we are — and should be — measured against today are very different than they were in the past.”“What woman would ever want him to grab their breast? And it hurt,” she said. “Then I had to go on stage and act like I was in love with him.
Several people who have worked in the costume department of the LA Opera, where Domingo has served in various capacities since the 1980s, said his backstage behavior was common knowledge and that management had been aware of it for years. One employee said her colleagues tried to steer clear of sending women into fittings with Domingo as recently as the 2016-2017 season.
Wilson was the only new accuser to speak to the AP on the record. The others requested anonymity because they still work in the industry and said they feared recriminations in a world long dominated by Domingo and other powerful men. The employee said wardrobe staff had a joke about spraying female singers “with tenor spray, like bug spray, to keep the tenors off you.”
“I saw him positioning himself and maneuvering around rehearsal rooms and in the hallway to get close to her, and she was clearly avoiding him,” Gardner said. Wilson told the AP she was aware of Domingo’s reputation by her third season at Washington Opera, but wanted to believe his interest was professional when he began to single her out in the fall of 1999. She said he would sit by her during rehearsal breaks for “Le Cid” and talk to her, telling her “I adore you, Angela.” But it soon became clear his interest was not entirely in her singing, she said.
Not long after performances started Oct. 30, she said he came to her dressing room and entered without knocking, saying he wanted to wish her a good show. Then, she said, he added: “I need a kiss. It’s a demanding role. I need a kiss for strength.”“I remember thinking ‘I have to get to the door,’” she said. “I started to open the door and he slammed the door with his foot and his hand and kept his hand on the door and he said, ‘I need that kiss.’ And he wouldn’t let me out.
She said that after he grabbed her breast, she cried out in pain and asked the makeup person, “Did you see that?” Reached by the AP, the makeup artist said he did not recall the incident and did not want to comment further on the record. Though she won the company’s prestigious Artist of the Year award that season, in 2000, she said the Washington Opera never again hired her, which she attributes to her interactions with Domingo.
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