Domingo withdraws from Met Opera after harassment reports
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Opera announced Tuesday that Placido Domingo had agreed to withdraw from his slate of scheduled performances at the opera house following allegations of sexual harassment made by multiple women in two Associated Press stories. The opera legend indicated that he would never again perform at the Met.
Domingo had been scheduled to sing the title role in the season premiere of Verdi’s “Macbeth” on Wednesday night, which would have been his first performance in the United States since the AP reported that numerous women had accused him of inappropriate behavior, including one soprano who said he grabbed her bare breast.
The Met had been under increasing pressure to cancel Domingo’s six scheduled appearances, but general manager Peter Gelb reiterated to performers after a dress rehearsal Saturday that the opera house was awaiting results of investigations by the LA Opera, where Domingo has been general director since 2003, and the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union that represents various opera staff.
Domingo, who had sung in rehearsals, issued a statement saying his Met career was over after what the company said was 706 performances as a singer, plus 169 as a conductor.
“I made my debut at the Metropolitan Opera at the age of 27 and have sung at this magnificent theater for 51 consecutive, glorious years,” the star said. “While I strongly dispute recent allegations made about me, and I am concerned about a climate in which people are condemned without due process, upon reflection, I believe that my appearance in this production of ‘Macbeth’ would distract from the hard work of my colleagues both on stage and behind the scenes.
UN chief warns of a world divided between US and China
UNITED NATIONS — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned global leaders Tuesday of the looming risk of the world splitting in two, with the United States and China creating rival internets, currency, trade, financial rules “and their own zero sum geopolitical and military strategies.”
In his annual “state of the world address” to the General Assembly’s gathering of heads of state and government, Guterres said the risk “may not yet be large, but it is real.”
“We must do everything possible to avert the great fracture and maintain a universal system, a universal economy with universal respect for international law; a multipolar world with strong multilateral institutions,” he told presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and ministers from the U.N.’s 193 member states.
Guterres painted a grim picture of a deeply divided and anxious planet facing a climate crisis, “the alarming possibility of armed conflict in the Gulf,” spreading terrorism, rising populism and “exploding” inequality.
His speech was followed by the traditional first speaker — Brazil, represented by its new president, Jair Bolsonaro — and the United States, represented by President Donald Trump.
Executive gets 4 months for bribing son’s way into USC
BOSTON — A Los Angeles business executive was sentenced Tuesday to four months in prison for paying $250,000 to get his son admitted to the University of Southern California as a fake water polo recruit.
Devin Sloane, 53, pleaded guilty in May to a single count of fraud and conspiracy. He is the second parent sentenced in a sweeping college admissions scandal that has ensnared dozens of wealthy mothers and fathers.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani also ordered Sloane to perform 500 hours of community service over two years of supervised release and pay a fine of $95,000.
Authorities say Sloane helped fabricate documents depicting his son as an international water polo star even though he had never played the sport. He bought water polo gear online, investigators found, and staged action photos of his son in the family’s swimming pool.
Sloane is a graduate of USC and founder of the Los Angeles water systems company AquaTecture.
Slow-moving TS Karen drops heavy rain over Puerto Rico, USVI
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Tropical Storm Karen drenched the U.S. Virgin Islands on Tuesday as it bore down on an earthquake-shaken Puerto Rico still scarred by a hurricane two years ago.
Heavy squalls were expected to hit some areas of the U.S. territories overnight as the storm moved slowly over the region and headed to open waters.
Forecasters said the heaviest rains would affect Puerto Rico’s southern and eastern region from 8 p.m. Tuesday to about 2 a.m. on Wednesday.
“The worst is yet to come,” said Elmer Román, secretary of the island’s Department of Public Safety.
U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. said late Tuesday evening that Karen had already caused some mudslides in the territory and warned people to remain inside.
WeWork CEO stepping aside amid questions about company
WeWork’s charismatic but controversial CEO is stepping aside from the communal office-space company he founded, another moment of reckoning between the fast-growing startup and its disenchanted investors.
The New York-based company said Tuesday that Adam Neumann will be replaced by two co-CEOs: Artie Minson, formerly co-president and chief financial officer, and Sebastian Gunningham, formerly vice chairman. Neumann will remain on its board as non-executive chairman.
WeWork’s meteoric growth and carefully designed spaces with cool offerings like free beer and meditation classes gave it the aura of yet another tech company led by a magnetic personality. It was initially valued at $47 billion by private investors.
But Wall Street began raising questions after the company delayed a planned initial public offering earlier this month. The company was having trouble drumming up interest in the offering after revealing massive losses in its IPO filings. WeWork’s revenue rose sharply to $1.8 billion in 2018, but the company lost $1.6 billion the same year.
WeWork leases buildings and divides them into office spaces to sublet to members, which include small businesses, start-ups and freelancers who can’t afford permanent office space. But with location operating expenses — mostly rent — amounting to some 80% of revenue, it has been heavily reliant on cash infusions from its private investors.
