The Daily Telegraph Friday 16 August 2019 *** 7
Domingo still welcome at
Royal Opera House after
sexual harassment claims
By Hannah Furness
ARTS CORRESPONDENT
THE Royal Opera House is to go ahead
with performances by Plácido Do-
mingo despite cancellations at Ameri-
can venues in the wake of sexual
harassment allegations against him.
The Covent Garden opera house said
it had “not been made aware” of allega-
tions relating to the tenor’s time as an
artist or conductor at the London venue.
Citing a “zero tolerance policy to-
wards harassment of any kind”, it con-
firmed that performances of Don Carlo
in June and July next year would go
ahead, with Domingo starring as Rod-
rigo, Marquis of Posa.
Two US opera houses, the Philadel-
phia Orchestra and San Francisco Op-
era, called off performances after the
Associated Press published accusations
of sexual harassment made by numer-
ous women against Domingo.
The Los Angeles Opera opened an
investigation into alleged events dur-
ing his time there. Domingo, 78, re-
jected the allegations, calling them
“deeply troubling and, as presented,
inaccurate”.
Coming from eight singers and a
dancer, all but one of whom are anony-
mous, the accusations span three dec-
ades and range from unwelcome
touching to putting pressure on them
to have sex.
The Associated Press said that after
decades of silence, the women felt em-
boldened by the MeToo movement,
launched in 2017 to tackle sexual mis-
conduct in the workplace.
Domingo is due to appear at the
Royal Opera House next summer for
Sir Nicholas Hytner’s production of
Don Carlo.
A spokesman for the Royal Opera
House said: “The ROH has not beenFringe festival
favourite has
set the bar high
‘Let TV watchdog test
if reality stars are fit’
By Hannah Furness
ARTS CORRESPONDENT
THE television industry must
set up an independent regu-
lator to determine whether
members of the public are fit
to appear on reality shows,
executives have said.
Senior figures in television
called for more rigorous test-
ing, carried out separately
from the programme-mak-
ers, in an attempt to safe-
guard potentially vulnerable
contestants.
It comes after an MPs’
committee opened an in-
quiry into reality television
following the deaths of for-
mer Love Island stars and a
Jeremy Kyle Show guest.
Jonathan Stadlen, manag-
ing director of production
company Knickerbocker-
glory, told BBC Radio 4’s The
Media Show that decisions
were too often “at the mercy
of whatever assistant pro-
ducer or producer is on duty
that time to think, ‘Does this
person need help?’
“So I think we need some
independent body to try and
help us to decide whether
people have the capacity to
be in it,” he said. “I don’t
think that body should be
paid by the production com-
pany, because at the moment
we’re paying psychologists to
test people, but there’s a con-
flict of interest because the
people paying them are the
people doing that [making
the shows].”
Steve Regan, a former en-
tertainment commissioner
for Channel 5, said: “To make
it work better there almost
needs to be an independent
body in the middle of all of us
who are making those assess-
ments, because at the mo-
ment it’s all too connected.”
The Department for Cul-
ture, Media and Sport select
committee currently has an
open inquiry into “produc-
tion companies’ duty of care
to participants [...] whether
enough support is offered
both during and after film-
ing, and whether there is a
need for further regulatory
oversight in this area”.
Guidance issued by Ofcom
last month said that partici-
pants in programmes should
be warned to avoid social me-
dia, and broadcasters will be
required to take due care
over the “welfare, well-being
and dignity of participants”.By Hannah Furness
and Sarah Knapton
IT has an international arts
festival, a book festival, and
a world-famous Fringe en-
compassing 1,200 shows to
suit all tastes.
But there is something a
bit different that is staking a
claim to being Edinburgh’s
most successful act this year.
It is a fairground-style
“chin-up bar”, where macho
men and drunken festival-
goers have to pay to hang off
it for two minutes. Street
performers outside the ven-
ues at this year’s Fringe festi-
val are making more money
than the up-and-coming co-
medians, it is said, after sev-
eral people set up chin-up
bars and challenged people
to hold on.
The most successful stall
charges contenders £10 a
try, with a £100 prize if they
manage to stay on for two
minutes.
Pawel and Mikolaj Ra-
towski, the cousins behind
the idea, told the i newspa-
per they see 120-150 people
attempt it a day, with only
one or two, who are usually
mechanics, builders or farm-
ers, completing the £
challenge successfully.
Martin Lipiecki, who runs
a rival “Tarzan Challenge”
with a target of 100 seconds,
told The Telegraph the
amount of money they make
depends somewhat on the
time of day.
“When people are sober,
there are more winners,” he
said. “When people are
drinking, they can do it less.”
One festival producer said
a performer would need to
sell out a 250-seat venue to
make a £1,000 profit – the
same amount of money the
chin-up bar businessmen
can make on a successful
day.
John Brewer, professor of
applied sports science at
Buckinghamshire New Uni-
versity, said: “I suspect it is
something about the bio-
mechanics of the bar that
makes it difficult for people
to grip on.
“It shouldn’t be too hard
for someone with strong
shoulders and core to hang
on for two minutes, which
suggests that all the effort is
somehow being shifted into
the hands, which makes it
harder.
“I recently did an endur-
ance competition using a
similar hanging exercise
with rings, and plenty of
people could do it for two
minutes and longer.”
A version of the two-min-
ute dead-hang challenge is a
familiar sight at fairs and is
often considered a scam,
with some using a rotating
bar to make it harder for
people to grip.News
made aware of any accusations pertain-
ing to Plácido Domingo’s time as a visit-
ing artist or conductor. However, we
have a zero-tolerance policy towards
harassment of any kind and recently
refreshed our code of conduct to en-
sure all staff and visiting artists abide
by the rules.
“We also have a Safeguarding Man-
ager to enforce compliance, as well as an
anonymous whistle-blowing service.”
In a statement earlier this week, Do-
mingo said: “The allegations from
these unnamed individuals dating back
as many as 30 years are deeply trou-
bling and, as presented, inaccurate.
“Still, it is painful to hear that I may
have upset anyone or made them feel
uncomfortable, no matter how long
ago and despite my best intentions.
“I believed that all of my interactions
and relationships were always wel-
comed and consensual. People who
know me or who have worked with me
know that I am not someone who
would intentionally harm, offend, or
embarrass anyone.”Covent Garden company
says it is ‘unaware of any
allegations relating to
his time in London’
The dead-hang challenge is a
surprise hit with festival-goers
Safe space Joy Maria Onotu, left, and Sarah Miele, who star in the Edinburgh Fringe show
Valentina’s Galaxy, which is inspired by the stories of female astronauts, climb the
otherworldly surface of Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park to promote the show.LESLEY MARTINРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS