Opera Australia supporting homophobic soprano

[Mrs Mangel]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 4:59pm

Like audiences needed more reasons NOT to go to the opera- just wondering who they think their audiences are?
Tamar Iveri

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 5:42pm

Straight couples like Hugh and Deb.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 6:16pm

It's an ugly story.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 6:20pm

She now says her husband did it.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 6:30pm

That's part of the ugliness.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 6:32pm

I feel sorry for her dog.

[AC126748]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 7:45pm

She says that her husband made the comment...but she also makes it very clear that she was against the parade because the parade path passed in front of Orthodox churches.

So...even as she denies making the comments, she essentially supports their purpose.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 8:07pm

The thing is, her dog would actually eat poop.

[JustAGuy]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 10:57pm

She's been canned.

From the Opera Australia - Facebook Page

Statement from Opera Australia regarding soprano Tamar Iveri:
Opera Australia confirms soprano Ms Tamar Iveri will not be performing in Otello.
Opera Australia has reached agreement with Ms Iveri to immediately release her from her contract with the company.
Ms Iveri and her husband have both made public statements in the last 48 hours with regards to comments attributed to Ms Iveri.
Ms Iveri has unreservedly apologised for those comments and views.
Opera Australia believes the views as stated to be unconscionable.
23rd June.


Opera Australia Facebook

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/22/14 at 11:47pm

When are we going to hear about gay people preaching tolerance and but they won't tolerate different viewpoints? And from whom?

[Mrs Mangel]

Posted: 6/23/14 at 4:20am

I understand your point, but how much should we tolerate when we are being attacked? The alleged hater has been released from her contract- some observers see the gesture as a bit of "too little, too late"..
"Diva Knows Best"

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 6/26/14 at 10:29pm

Mrs M, Namo was mocking views stated by other posters. I don't believe he would ever argue that "tolerance" means allowing intolerance to go unchecked.

I do think the blogger you cite might give Opera Australia a break. I don't know of any corporation--profit or nonprofit--that gives employees carte blanche to talk to the press, especially not during a scandal.

Nor do I share the blogger's outrage that it took OA "48 hours to sack the diva"! That's only two days for those in charge to investigate the matter and make a decision. Do we want employers to act more hastily?

[darquegk]

Posted: 6/26/14 at 11:24pm

Homophobia, and xenophobia of any kind, racial or whatever, is disgusting. I can't stand it.

However, I am curious in a cultural sense, and as a former student with an MA-level certification in women and gender studies: there's got to be a seesaw between competence and sociopolitical palatability (not political correctness and buzzwords; I'm talking actually fitting into the zeitgeist). How good do you have to be to be able to not be hated or sacked for saying or doing the wrong thing?

For instance, Gary Oldman defended some assholes and is libertarian, which is a swear word in some circles. However, he is an accepted grand master. How bad does he have to be before it sours his reputation and genuinely hurts his career? Mel Gibson was pretty bad, but he didn't have nearly the reputation for solid work Oldman does.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/26/14 at 11:27pm

I think a reassessment of this accepted grand master vision of Gary Oldman is long overdue. And let's face it, that's the kind of PR-invented truism that gets repeated and repeated more about men than women, and more about white men than anybody else.

I think it's hooey.

[darquegk]

Posted: 6/26/14 at 11:38pm

You've got a point. When men build these reputations, they become like gods. When women do, they get inevitable hate backlash- look at Streep and Anne Hathaway.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 6:32am

This is my subjective impression, of course, but I think the zeitgeist was pretty forgiving of Mel Gibson during Scandal #1 (homophobic remarks in Latin American interview in the early 90s) and Scandal #2 (the astonishing remarks about Jews to the officer who arrested him).

It was really Scandal #3 (the taped epithets to the mother of his baby and her injuries) running in a loop on cable news that finally soured the Gibson brand. (At least I hope it's "finally"; since Gibson-as-director panders to the mob's worst instincts, he'll probably get another cultural redemption.)

But since we're talking zeitgeist, perhaps it wasn't the repetition, but the fact that by the time of Scandal #3, Mel looked (and sounded) more like Hollywood's version of a serial killer than PEOPLE's Sexiest Man Alive.

Updated On: 6/27/14 at 06:32 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 9:30am

I passed him on the street after #2 and he had crazy eyes.

[dreaming]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 10:17am

I applaud Opera Australia for firing the offending party. It is one thing to have those views, but to spew them publicly when you're in the public eye is another entirely. (There are folks who perform at the Met who've expressed similar viewpoints to this soprano-problem is, the Met is afraid to let them go.)

[Ex-Siny]

Posted: 6/27/14 at 11:20am

The difference between this woman and Mel Gibson/Gary Oldman is that she actually supports violence against gays. It's one thing to come out against gay marriage, but quite another to condone beating up LGBT demonstrators.

Also, she comes from the part of the world where discrimination and violence against gays are rampant and sanctioned by the state. Her firing will make other artists from that part of the world think twice about expressing such views in public and that will lead to a better environment for gays in those countries.

So kudos to the Opera Australia !