December 2019 UPDATE: Colleagues support Vittorio Grigolo as he replies to being fired by the Royal Opera House and the Met
In a video to his fans, Vittorio Grigolo has put forward his version of the story of his alleged groping a colleague onstage while on tour with The Royal Opera. The action led to him being suspended from The Royal Opera and The Metropolitan Opera while there is an investigation. La Scala in Milan has confirmed that the tenor is currently rehearsing for performances of L'Elisir d'amore which he will appear in from 1 October.
According to the newspaper Rovigo Oggi, Grigolo was carried away by the adrenaline generated by the success of the performance and from the applause and, recalling a scene in Faust, jokingly touched the false belly of a dancer in the company. When the dancer protested, he told her to ‘fuck off'. The Royal Opera production has a scene during which the ‘pregnant' woman offers him her belly to touch, an offer he refuses. The dancer concerned is presumably the person that can be seen behind Grigolo in his Instagram post of him taking his applause.
Grigolo said,
The misunderstanding could have been cleared up immediately afterwards as I asked The Royal Opera House to meet those involved so that we could clear the air.
Grigolo is famously animated during the applause after a performance.
During the applause I'm full of adrenalin, exuberant, impulsive, it's even possible that I told someone to fuck off, in life you can't be condemned for telling someone ‘where to go', but when you've cooled down you should be given the opportunity, if you've made a mistake, to say sorry. Something I was denied. They took me away, put me on a plane and sent me home like a killer. I am calm about the situation and I await their decision.
A Japanese spectator wrote on Instagram (in, it must be said, her first and only post on the platform):
I watched the performance on September 18, 2019 with my friends. From our seats in the quite front area, the stage was clearly visible, and we were all observing the whole curtain call and watching Vittorio. We, including a friend who had a seat on the 1st row around the centre, did not notice any suspicious movement of Vittorio or any unusual reaction by other performers on the stage. We only noticed that Vittorio gently touched the fake belly part of the dress of the dancer who acted a pregnant woman. We understood that his behavior was for the audience to recall a scene from the opera, “Faust.” It was clearly part of his sincere performance from his enthusiasm to entertain the audience and we believe nothing to be blamed.
Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.
His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.
And if some female dancer or singer would “gently touch” the penis area of a tenor? Can the tenor in this case proclaim sexual harassment and demand an investigation?
A part of the fact that to my opinion that “female dancer” behind Grigolo on the picture is not female at all 😉
In three words: SHAME ON ROH!
Yes, he could.
I love how the fan says it’s her opinion that nothing wrong happened. I have news for her: she doesn’t get to determine whether someone touching another person is okay or not. The person who gets touched is the one who has the right to say that. Probably if he hadn’t cursed her out, it would have all gone away.
I am not a fan of Grigolo, even more, I do not like his singing and to my opinion the singers of this level have nothing to do on stage of Royal Opera House. But I hate the bigotry and hypocrites. If Grigolo really cursed this “female” out it was very rude and he had to apologize. But if nobody else have heard it and there are no evidences – sorry, but the “female” must just stay there and continue to dance waiting for the other male victim and hoping to earn some easy money.
Time he played the ’divo’ less, I’m afraid! AND calmed down at curtain calls!
Well he was in “Il Divo”. Perhaps he should go back to them.
BTW, he wasn’t in Il Divo – he’s a true tenor who always scores a triumph at La Scala (that most demanding of theatres!)
He is an asshole and has a drinking problem.
And for this nonsense, that the rare beauty and talent of this individual gets lost to audiences even for a season is outrageous and ridiculous.