Vittorio Grigolo suspended from Royal Opera tour in Japan for allegedly “groping another singer onstage”

A most extraordinary story is arriving from Japan where The Royal Opera is currently on tour. Tenor Vittorio Grigolo was substituted for the final performance of the opera Faust after being accused of groping a colleague on stage during the curtain call – in front of the audience.

A statement from The Royal Opera House reads,

Following an alleged incident on September 18 involving Vittorio Grigolo, the Royal Opera House opened an immediate investigation and Mr Grigolo was suspended.

And adds,

We are unable to comment further on this matter whilst the investigation is ongoing.

He was replaced by Georgy Vasiliev for the last performance on Sunday.

A source told The Sun newspaper,

It happened in full view of the audience. Members of the chorus implored him to stop and Grigolo vehemently argued with them. They were horrified by what happened.

BBC News has asked Grigolo's representatives for comment.

Many news outlets are quoting a Gramilano article from 2015 which translated parts of an interview with Grigolo in the Italian Vanity Fair magazine. We would like to underline – as is obvious from the article's title: Vittorio Grigolo jokes “I'm a sex addict” – that it was indeed a joke:

In an interview with Italy's Vanity Fair, the always outspoken tenor, Vittorio Grigolo, responded to journalist Sara Faillaci's question, “Is sex important for you?” with, “My name is Vittorio. I'm a sex addict.” Though he was fooling, he has something of a reputation as a Latin lover or, as Faillaci writes, a “tombeur de femmes”.

Gramilano( Editor )

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.