Anyone Else Raise an Eyebrow over the Curtain Coming Dowen on Anna Netrebko

Though she has publicly criticized the war, “one of the greatest singers in Met(ropolitan Opera) history,” a soprano (i.e. notorious diva) with dual citizenship in Russia and Austria has been given the 21st century version of a blacklisting[*] for refusing to back away from her support for Putin and (Novorossiyan) New Russia separatists in Donetsk.

Anna Netrebko, Russian soprano, out at the Metropolitan Opera

[*] You could take the libertarian argument, that an employer (NYC’s Met) can fire who ever they want for any reason. Or you could be a free speech absolutist, recalling the Hollywood purge of the 1950’s, and ask why should anyone (citizen or not) be forced to say something that goes against their convictions or get the ax. You could even take the philistine route, say opera sucks, and wonder aloud how this of any consequence.