After the breakout of the war between Russian and Ukraine, it was not uncommon to see organizations and venues cancelling events or firing people over whether or not they supported Russian President Vladimir Putin who instigated the conflict.
Russian born soprano Anna Netrebko was let go by The Metropolitan Opera for reportedly refusing to speak out against Putin. She has sued The Met for claiming national origin discrimination. She has also filed a suit for gender discrimination. U.S. District Judge Analisa Nadine Torres has ruled that the suit may proceed but a trial date has yet to be set.
In a statement from The Met it notes that the case “was reinstated on technical grounds”. Adding that they believed that Netrebko’s case would not succeed.
Reportedly Met General Manager Peter Gelb demanded Netrebko renounce President Putin after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Netrebko refused and Gelb reportedly pulled her out of three Met productions and even replace her with Ukrainian soprano Liudmyla Monastyrska in one of the productions.
Netrebko’s lawyer Julie Ulmet said via a statement, “together with our recent request to add new claims for retaliation and defamation based on Peter Gelb’s renewed public campaign to disparage Ms. Netrebko, this decision sends a powerful message that Ms. Netrebko will continue to stand up for her rights as an artist.”
Originally Judge Torres threw out the suit along with the defamation and breach of contract allegations; but has now said, “the allegations support the inference that Netrebko’s replacement by non-Russian artists occurred under circumstances giving rise to at least a ‘minimal’ inference of discrimination.”
Judge Torres has allowed the gender discrimination suit to continue siting the New York State Human Rights Law and New York City Human Rights Law.
Reportedly The Met has treated Russian male performers with more favour; citing bass-baritone Evgeny Nikitin and baritones Igor Golovatenko, and Alexey Markov being allowed to continue performing.
The American Guild of Musical Artists filed a grievance on Netrebko’s behalf and in February 2023 arbitrator Howard C. Edelman ruled in favour of Netrebko citing a violation of the collective bargaining agreement. Netrebko was awarded compensation in the form of $209,103.48.