De Blasio Defends Opera Accused of Being Anti-Semitic
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday criticized his predecessor Rudolph Giuliani for objecting to the Metropolitan Opera’s performance of The Death of Klinghoffer and defended the Met’s right to stage the controversial performance that has been labeled anti-Semitic, the New York Daily News reported on Monday, hours before the play was set to open.
“The former mayor had a history of challenging cultural institutions when he disagreed with their content. I don’t think that’s the American way. The American way is to respect freedom of speech. Simple as that,” de Blasio said at an unrelated press conference.
Giuliani plans to lead the latest protest against the opera outside the Met on Monday, as the show opens.
Critics have labeled the performance anti-Semitic for glorifying the murder of Jewish-American cruise ship passenger Leon Klinghoffer, 69. Wheel chair-bound, Klinghoffer was shot in the head by Palestinian hijackers on the Achille Lauro cruise ship 29 years ago. The terrorists threw his body, along with his wheelchair, overboard into the Mediterranean Sea and his corpse washed up on the Syrian shoreline a few days later.
“I really think we have to be very careful in a free society to respect that cultural institutions will portray works of art – put on operas, plays, that there will be art exhibits in museums,” de Blasio said. “And in a free society we respect that. We don’t have to agree with what’s in the exhibit but we agree with the right of the artist and the cultural institution to put that forward to the public.”
De Blasio said he thinks focus should be shifted to the “anti-Semitism problem” taking place around the world. He added, “I think there is a serious problem today in the world that has nothing to do with this opera.”
“There’s an anti-Semitism problem in this world today, particularly in Western Europe, that worries me greatly. That’s where my focus is. I don’t think an opera is what the focal point should be right now,” he said. “The only thing I know about the opera is that the Metropolitan Opera has a right to show it.”
Washington Post: Politicians Join Hundreds in Protest
About 400 protesters, among them former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D) and Peter King (R), convened in front of the Metropolitan Opera Monday to protest the opening of The Death of Klinghoffer, a docu-opera about a Jewish man who was taken hostage aboard a cruise ship in 1985, shot and pushed overboard by Palestinian terrorists.
Once underway, the opera was interrupted by boos and a few heckles from the audience. Someone repeatedly shouted “the murder of Klinghoffer will never be forgiven” before being escorted out, The New York Times reported. Another woman “cried out a vulgarity and left, accompanied by ushers.” The audience, which reportedly included Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is Jewish, gave the opera a standing ovation.
Hindy
Doesn’t the Met receive a lot of financial backing from Jews? Hit them where it counts-in the pocket!
Protest the Met
Last nights protest was very powerful but we must not stop!! Every night this week there will be people handing out flyers and protesting. Please stop by!
hmmm
if it was a play against lgbt i bet you the mayer would be singing a different tune
Ma Rabbi
Stop the protests. The protests are giving this third rate show all the free publicity. Ignore this show and it will be forced to close due to lack of attendance.
Gee I would never have thougt!
Good morning America, you just realised now who this crooked socialist politician who is qualified for nothing like Obama and Holder?
Wake up and smell the coffee.
It’s a free country with free speech so crownheights.info please post this.
Uncle Mendel
Do we have a Jewish version of Al Sharpton?
Can we rent him for this occasion?
without question
If the opera was had a Koran burning, that would be vicious divisive incitement. Murdering a Jew… that’s culture.
America has lost its values
In a free democracy, a musical that glorifies the murder of an innocent man because of his religious persuasions goes against the values upon which the country is based.
important correction
This opera is NOT “a docu-opera about a Jewish man who was taken hostage aboard a cruise ship in 1985, shot and pushed overboard by Palestinian terrorists.”
It is not really about the man who was murdered and it does not even include depicting the murder at all! It solely focuses on making the case in favor of the murder of this helpless, innocent, elderly, wheelchair-bound victim. The composer and librettist are COWARDS for leaving out the actual murder, which, had they included it, might have actually elicited sympathy for the victim (Leon Klinghoffer, H”Y”D).
This opera is all about manipulating the audience’s emotions into somehow feeling sympathy with the cold-blooded assassins: plain and simple.
ALSO: The Metropolitan Opera won’t release the name(s) of exactly who donated the money for this production, only saying that it was “anonymous” donors. Can we spell “Arab money”–no doubt? They’re influencing US and Canadian university curricula with their “donations” and are trying to now influence the output of the US arts world, as evidenced by this production.
Mendy Hecht
How about a play showing the 9/11 hijackers singing and dancing as the fly the planes into the Twin Towers to kill all those evil Americans and their evil firefighters? Free speech, right?
GOOD IDEA
:)
true
that’s so right what you said what about a movie about the Holocaust Germans killing Jews proudly freedom of speech ha what about Prince Harry wearing the Nazi uniform what a world.
lost in the confusion
the METropolitan opera is a GOVERNMENT entity like CUNY, worse your TAX dollars which are extracted from you by threat of violence i.e. jail time (kidnapping) are used to pay for the production, so even if only 10 ppl show up, THEY PRODUCERS GET PAID!!!!!
lost in the confusion
THE ONLY WAY TO STOP IT IS WITH A LEGAL INJUNCTION,
AND IM SURE YOU WILL FIND S=DURING THE PROCESS THAT MONEY IS GETTING FUNNELD BACK TO HAMAS IN SOME PART.
Daniel Botnick
Any thinking person who continues to vote Democrat and support DiBlasio, Obama and their cronies like Schumer and Clinton should have his or her head examined. They each support terror in their own way.
An opera about Guantanamo
Would last two seconds !
Mayor?
Thank you Mayor de Blasio for your very informative explanation of anti-Semitism. Now I understand why you always make sure you sit in Al Sharpton’s lap when photographed with him. But, I guess if it were a play depicting the discrimination against bi-racial couples it would all be in the spirit of the “Arts” as well. Keep voting liberal New York, this is what you get!