Placido Domingo: I thought the sex gang were my friends
NewsThe singer has given a brief interview to a Mexican channel, saying he was duped by people he thought were friends of many years. he does not deny that it was his voice on the sex-assignation tape.
‘You saw everything has proved there was nothing (in it). What I feel is that it was a group… of friends, whom I considered to be musicians. On one occasion I invited them to work. Unfortunately, it was not like that. But well, I have nothing to do with that.’
He went on to say, ‘it’s very sad when you think you have friends for many years and you realize that they used you.’
Makes you wonder what it means to be a friend of Domingo. Watch.
This is now known as the Prince Andrew Defense…
Or how to get into deeper poo.
Not really, or do you equate illegal sex with minors (Andrew) with legal sex with adults (Domingo)? Do you think, sex in general should be illegal or at least be frowned upon?
Didn`t he just say during an anniversary that he was blessed in a marriage?
Speaking of sadness and betrayal, what about his wife?
They recorded the phone conversation. For what reason? Blackmail in mind?
It’s true that Mendy was supposedly a composer. Apparently some of her music was played at the Antwerp arts centre in 1989.
“Makes you wonder what it means to be a friend of Domingo.”
How about just reporting the facts, and letting us make up our minds?
What do you think this site is? A pulitzer winning editorial? This is a classical music gossip site, akin to a tabloid
Pfizer is Domingo’s Achilles heel. They have created a product which allows his exploitation of women to continue; though apparently now for cash.
You’d have hoped that Plácido had learned by now that sometimes silence really is golden …..
I think we’re all ready for some Placebo Domingo by now …
Has cancel culture arrived here on Slippedisc?
Nothing new. Viz. the unending potshots at Lang Lang.
People who complain about cancel culture are such hypocrites. For centuries bigots oppressed people because they were of a different ethnicity, religion, nationality, gender or sexual preference. Now that these bigots are being called out for their intolerance, they shout about cancel culture.
PD still makes a living and still has a career, so he has not been cancelled. But yes, some venues and artistic companies prefer not to work with a person who makes their female employees feel unsafe. That is not cancel culture. That is accountability and responsibility.
“I invited them to work”. Gosh, where do we hear that cover, day in, day out.
You would think it is the most hare-brained cover one could use, but it works.
Friends with benefits.
This is so frustrating to see. What he asked for wasn’t illegal. We are becoming too prude in the world. Sex is sex. It’s a human need. Maybe if certain people had more of it, the world wouldn’t be going to shit after all… Seriously.
‘Sex is sex. It’s a human need.’
This is the kind of naive ‘argument’ one encounters only on social media, and fallacious to boot. You seem to need a basic biology lesson, together with what it means to be a citizen living in the modern Western society, as opposed to human beings living in the few extant ‘primitive’ societies (‘Primitive’ not used in a derogatory sense.)
1. Need of something and the ability to execute that something are different things. Sex as a human need ranks very low on the priority lists of the _normal_ octogenarian population, if it ranks at all, and the ability to perform the act with something resembling a ‘sufficient’ grade ranks even lower. An octogenarian womanizer is by no means a ‘normal’ being. If you don’t believe me read a medical treatise. A being in the last years of his life isn’t physically attractive to others, irrespective of species. If such a being experiences strong sexual ‘need’ (which is by no means normal), he can’t attract another being by natural means to satisfy his ‘need’. What’s left are ‘unnatural’ means. In modern society this resolves into either (a) paying for sex, or (b) extortion. Using force doesn’t come into the equation at 80. (a) isn’t a criminal act in the majority Western countries, (b) may fall under ‘criminal’ depending on circumstances. Criminality doesn’t factor into your ‘argument.’ What’s important is that neither (a) not (b) are ‘natural’, neither from a biological point of view, nor as a normal societal construct. If it were a normal societal construct, half of the population would be prostitutes or glorified prostitutes, with the other half paying for the service. This isn’t the case. Thus your ‘argument’ falls completely flat.
2. The ‘need for sex’ as human need was called ‘mating’ in the olde caveman days, and was the result of either (a) mutual genuine physical _consensual_ attraction, or (b) the physically more developed half of the species (male in case of the human species if we stay withing race boundaries) forced the other half to _non-consensual_ sex. Things are different when living in a modern Western society with laws and institutions, one of these institutions being the institution of monogamous marriage. Monogamous marriage comes with strings attached in form of _legal_ rights and obligations between the spouses. For unmarried human beings (a) is still valid for both sexes. (b) Is considered criminal behavior in Western society, irrespective of civil status.
In PD’s case we are dealing with (a) because there’s no proof for (b), which doesn’t mean he didn’t do (b), it just means there’s no evidence, and where’s no evidence both custom and modern law accord the benefit of doubt. In PD’s case we deal with (a). Like it or not but adultery is still unlawful in Western society (as in valid ground for divorce), and going one step further as in repeated adultery or promiscuity is even more so. There’s no use pointing out that PD’s wife didn’t file for divorce. Her personal reasons don’t make the law less true, nor are her personal reasons valid to others. I am expounding on this in the next comment.
“Like it or not but adultery is still unlawful in Western society (as in valid ground for divorce)”
Actually you are wrong there. Most modern western countries have abolished culpability in divorce matters, including adultery.
You should update your moral compass. While adultery is hurtful and can cause many other negative consequences, it is not illegal (anymore).
Is this all you have understood from my (granted, a bit too long) comments? You seem to be an exponent of the New Age generation, weaned on multi choice tests, thinking only in extremes, either tick that box or don’t tick it, something is either a crime or it isn’t, someone is either culpable or he isn’t, something is either white or black, and so on. What a mess had that ‘education’ made of children’s critical thinking skills. I also wonder where has that moral compass sprung from, certainly not from my comments. Since when is mentioning biologic facts, laws and institutions ‘moral’? Or do you consider the practice of personal hygiene as belonging to one’s ‘moral compass’? Amusing.
Couldn’t care less about the legislation of those unspecified countries, but to humor you and your penchant for binary thinking, how about posting a list of Western countries who still consider adultery a valid reason for divorce (please note I avoided the word ‘culpability’, that was your choice), and the countries who have abolished this, _and the year when it was abolished_ , so we can compare dates and find out which period covers PD’s actions? I call this only fair. And don’t forget verifiable citations so we can make sure you didn’t.. embellish a little. I bet your reply will be on the lines ‘I have something better to do than post lists for your edification, google works for you too.’ Yeah. This is standard reply when people experience difficulties to support a previous claim. Either this or you won’t reply at all, or you will reply and go off on a tangent.
3. Between criminal behavior, and not committing any crime, there are many shades of gray. The normal human being and normal citizen has discovered this long ago. Both the wokies (at one extreme end of the spectrum), and PD’s apologists (at the other end) haven’t discovered this yet. Among those many shades of gray in the spectrum there are behaviors that, without being criminal, are gross to the normal human being / normal citizen. Take for instance having a cavalier attitude to personal hygiene. This is by no means a criminal act, yet you won’t find many people prepared to agree with your attitude, and even less people prepared to put up with your odor (Using ‘you’ in the impersonal). Your spouse may put up with it for whatever reasons, but the vast majority of the population won’t. Hint PD’s wife. Womanizers or wannabe womanizers who live vicariously through other people’s acts, or PD fans, may excuse his womanizing, the rest of the population will disagree. And the rest of the population is the majority. If you don’t believe me, go back to that medical treatise.
To conclude, both factions, the faction screaming bloody criminal, and the pathetic apologists trying to whitewash him lily white, are both misguided. As a human being he is an octogenarian involved in activities that don’t do him any credit. As a singer, he is a fraud _now_ , a fact to which any opera goer who has heard a baritone in their life can attest, you don’t have to be an expert. But I’m afraid the fans are as deaf as they are close-minded to his other actions. In their eyes he can do no wrong. Well, there’s the Three Monkeys for the fans, the Washington Post for the wokies, and ears and common sense for the rest of the population.
What’s all this ‘normal’ commentary. You’re dealing in statistics not individuals. Do you personally know how often PD has sex? There are many other agendas on this subject than the academic one you argue. You’re clearly uncomfortable about older people having sex lives. I’ll put is this way: in terms of employment law, criminality and media behaviour. It’s relatively easy to cancel someone as employment law is generally inaffective as the threshold of proof is so low and therefore open to abuse by employers. PD has had allegations made against him by mostly anonymous persons. Why don’t these people file a report with police and let them investigate? This is really about trial by media of a famous and celebrated musician and obviously in the media the burden of proof is non existent. It is nothing to do with PD stage of career-that’s a side show. If you think he shouldn’t perform any more take it up with his employers or don’t buy a ticket. If I feel able to practice my profession at 80 years and people want to employ me then I’ll work. What’s the problem?
‘What’s all this ‘normal’ commentary.’
I could as well ask what’s this rant of yours against cancel culture in reply to my post. My comment was about ‘normal’ because the original comment to which I was replying contained the sentence ‘It’s a human need,’ the implication of the ‘guest’ poster being that this particular human need is perfectly ‘normal’ and something one needs quite often. I’ve just told him this particular ‘need’ is by no means ‘normal’ in octogenarian populations, and this is a fact supported by medicinal treatises. Tell the ‘Guest’ poster about statistics and your wish to know how many times PD had sex so you can compare against average. What hobbies do you have…
If you feel like indulging in rants against cancel culture, please be Norman’s guest by posting a stand-alone comment. I don’t see any reason for you to be my guest.
P.S.
‘If I feel able to practice my profession at 80 years and people want to employ me then I’ll work.’
If you believe he can sing baritone (or any other fach for that matter), you are delusional. If you believe ‘people’ (read opera managers) employ him because he sings better than real baritones half his age… In this case I am at a loss what qualifier could possibly apply to your belief. They employ him because PD has long ceased to be a singer, and is now part of the ‘business’ side of the operation, which is corrupt to the hilt, proof of which we get daily with our morning coffee. They employ him because he’s calling in favors. Quality singing is the last thing on their minds, or his.
Ritirati in silenzio
Can someone explain to me, what the problem here is many of you seem you need to talk about?
Is it because the lady was overage? (75)
Poor Placido! He was friends with the mafia and feels disappointed they betrayed him… they were friends but he didn’t know what they actually did! You poor thing .. glad that you’re an opera legend who can be absolved of all sins!
Very interesting article in English about how the gang operated and how authorities closed their eyes for years.
https://english.elpais.com/international/2022-08-23/sex-drugs-and-promises-of-happiness-the-buenos-aires-yoga-schools-money-making-machine.html?outputType=amp
Excerpt:
“The target – Plácido Domingo
Luring powerful people to the cult was the key to success. A recording from one of the wiretaps revealed how cult leaders tried to enlist renowned tenor, Plácido Domingo, an effort that ultimately failed. The campaign to recruit Domingo began in the 1990s, and tried to exploit his relationship with at least four members of the Buenos Aires Yoga School. Two were well-known concert pianists and composers that had performed in the United States. “We’ve been trying for 30 years using these music [connections] and we still haven’t succeeded [in recruiting Domingo],” said Susana “Mendy” Mendelievich, in a recorded conversation that EL PAÍS listened to.
In the recording, the 75-year-old woman tells a fellow cult member that she has an upcoming meeting with Plácido Domingo, who was in Buenos Aires for a performance at the Colón Theater in April 2022. In an earlier recording, a man who seems to be Plácido Domingo talks with Mendelievich about the best way to meet in his room at the Hotel Alvear without being discovered by the “agents.” According to Federal Police sources, there is no evidence that the meeting took place nor have any charges been filed against Domingo.”
The problem today is that most media jump to conclusions right away because they want to be the first to report.
By the time, reports get more detailed, the damage is already done.
Not “seems to be Domingo”. It was him arranging the encounter. This is not a crime, but does not qualify him as a decent gentleman, right?
1. Domingo didn’t say that the sex gang were his friends, they were musicians that he thought were his friends.
2. I think every one of us has had minimum one bad experience, because we trusted someone and then they betrayed our trust.
3. The so-called Mendy is Susana Mendelievich, who in the 90s also worked with greats like Astor Piazzola and Mstislav Rostropovich.
https://danieldonaviola.com/piazzola-le-grand-tango/
4. And the rest of the bunch:
Rubén D’Artagnan González began his career as principal conductor of the Camerata Bariloche. Since then he has conducted major orchestras around the world, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, of which he was concertmaster for ten years. In November 1997, he was elevated to the rank of full member of the Argentine Academy of Music, due to the hierarchy and progression of his work.
Mariano Krauz was elected one of the five best oboists in the world in the United States in 1993, and has been principal oboe soloist of the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Colón Theater in Buenos Aires since 1988.
Susana Mendelievich, international pianist, has performed in concert halls in Madrid, Granada, Belgium, Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Stockholm and other European cities.
It would be more serious to make available all the information and not only those that allow you to get a cheap headline.
So you can see that this group of musicians had contact with hundreds of other musicians from all over the world.
And now only one name appears? That’s bullshit.
Good points, who else besides PD,( no relation to E.D. apparently), utilized this service? Ruben Gonzalez is a rather striking name on list that stands out, former concertmaster of CSO , in one of their glory days, amazing really. Articles say he opened up 3 yoga classes in Chicago, incredible.
Great comments Doretta!
If PD thought they were his friends, he needs a nanny at his age, not sex.
If you are a famous A-list musician, thousands seek your proximity. Do you really believe even the best experts on judging humans on first sight can see behind all their facades? Serious background checks, payed by the tax payer, might be common if you meet the US president, but not meeting PD.
He called them ‘friends,’ not ‘thousands who seek my proximity’. Yes, I expect from a responsible and thoughtful adult to know his _friends_ from organized criminality, go figure. One doesn’t count one’s _friends of many years_ by the thousands. Thoughtfulness is apparently too much to expect from PD, but good to know he still believes himself at the skirt chasing age, and irresistible to boot. He’s delusional, and the folks bending over backwards to excuse the doings of an octogenarian womanizer are a pretty pathetic bunch.
You write with such confidence about how the PD Enterprise is run, are you a member of the Inner Circle, or just a humble believer worshiping at the Church of Placido? If you are a member of the Inner Circle and PD has genuinely regressed to nanny stage, can you please tell him that not everything handed out to him with a bright smile is a lollipop? If he is still compos mentis, which I wish him with all my heart, can you respectfully point out to him that sermonizing the masses about marital felicity in between two skirt chases doesn’t help his case, it just furnishes the New Age Journalism with additional occasions to muse whether he is a forgetful gaga or a shameless hypocrite.
(Speaking of lower ranks in the Church of Placido, I have sighted a genuine member in one of the past PD posts. He was raving about the high C’s delivered by PD. Mind you, not the PD of the three decades ago who was still going by tenor, the claim would have been extraordinary enough even in those circumstances, no, he specifically named octogenarian PD in his baritone incarnation. Yeah. He concluded his incense offering with the words ‘It’s a miracle’ followed by three exclamation marks. This is what I call a Believer with capital B. Thank you for indulging me with this ‘ere reminiscence, it was a Genuine Moment I felt it deserved re-broadcasting.)
PD is such an interesting case, I don’t think I have ever heard of anyone going on with such dedication about the business of sullying his professional name by clinging to the stage no matter what. Thirty years ago he was still a very respectable opera singer, if not quite a genuine tenor (and not an A-list musician either, sorry to disappoint you.) Since then we have witnessed the endless transpositions and shortcuts of the ’90 to which conductors weren’t protesting, his own efforts as conductor that didn’t impress anyone, and lastly, when even transpositions and simplifications couldn’t help anymore, this rather ghastly ‘baritone’ act that anyone who has ever heard a true baritone can expose for what it is. Then it was the matter of his crossing the line to the ‘dark side’ of the business with his Operalia – the impresario side forever tainted by intimations of favoritism and unclean business since Barbaia was running in parallel the gaming operation off stage and the singing on stage of the San Carlo. This side’s reputation hasn’t improved since then.
The attention span of the new generations being what it is, I’m afraid PD will be remembered as either someone who had too many fingers in too many pies, quite a few of them rather unsavory, or as a has-been octogenarian whose name pops up in the news now and then because, despite his alleged best intentions, he can’t keep his pants on. Isn’t it a great pity? Yet is is all his own doing. Gives the meaning of the words ‘professional suicide’ quite a new relevance, don’t you think? There’s also the ‘e’-word.
This latest hubbub about Plácido is now descending to the level of Caruso in the monkey house, or Stefan Zucker’s fantasies about Corelli’s supposed sexual activities. A prostitute named Mendy (possibly underage) has now morphed into a 75 year old lady, a musician and composer whom Plácido has known for years. As Nigel Farage would say, ‘You couldn’t make it up’. Well, the Washington Post did. Perhaps he did engage the services of prostitutes, which I am sure no journalist, executive or board member of the WP ever did. So what? Unless they are proven to be underage, or in a jurisdiction where prostitution is illegal, this is only of interest for salacious reporting. As for the WP’s reference to Plácido’s artistic legacy, do they mean that we should dump our Domingo recordings? As for the reference to his message about his marriage, Plácido (and I) follow a Messiah who refused to condemn a woman taken in adultery, and who came not to call the righteous but sinners. He will not be made a Papal Count, but the Vatican will not disown him either. Away with this froth. Just listen to any of his accounts of ‘Or son sei mesi’ from Fanciulla where his voice soars above the orchestra as Caruso’s did, or listen to any part of his Alvaro in Levine’s Forza del Destino. And by the way, I won’t be dumping my Levine recordings either. I don’t think that Plácido’s late vocation as a baritone was very successful (compare his Di Luna vs Leonora confrontation on Youtube with Hvorostovsky / Radvanovsky, also on Youtube and on their CD, and be convinced of that). But he was one of the great tenors, and the recordings do not lie. He can still conduct and sing lighter music.
Your comments are intelligent and informed. PD was not only one of the great operatic tenors of the second half of the 20th century, he was also one of its great musicians and complete and versitile artists. JJ assesment of the artistic life of PD is uninformed, and or full of prejudicial commentary. Very sad. JJ is the opposite of an open mind. Thanks for your contribution.
Unfortunately, many famous people, are used, by ‘so-called’ friends! That’s why, it pays to be cautious, when one is as famous as Mr. Domingo!
Several points and speculations:
First, PD’s Naivete:
As someone of no fame and importance who has been seriously defrauded financially, once inadvertently and once very deliberately, by so called “friends” , I am a little sympathetic.
Probably from Domingo’s point of view these were classical musicians who one assumes are more refined i.e. moral than the average person and they hid their intentions very well.
Domingo spent many of his early professional years in Israel so he was not as exposed to the seamier side of the classical music hustle as perhaps others were who had to make moral compomises to claw their way up . In the early to mid sixties, Israel, at least in the cultural and business spheres, was a more innocent place than Europe and the US.
Later, PD was protected by his staff. Thus, although used to having groupies he may have still been pretty naive about their capacity to exploit him.
Second: (Anthropological) Cultural issues
I remember an Argentine movie (fiction) that came out a couple of years ago about wealthy people who were involved in group sex parties and how some prominent doctors got involved. It was a popular movie in Argentina so it probably resonated with something in the culture.
Until recently, in most of Latin America, a woman could be divorced by any act of adultery while for a man it had to be persistent, that is, a regular affair with someone else. It was considered that for most men the sex drive was just an itch that need to be scratched and casual sex did not mean anything and perhaps was necessary. However for a woman having sex with someone else meant a change of affection to another man and thus emotional disloyalty to her spouse.
I am not making a judgement as to the truth of this attitude. However is WAS the attitude in Latin America and was enshrined in law. PD might have felt this way and his Mexican wife might have accepted it.
Third: Psychology
A study done at Harvard which followed the health of alumni from their undergraduate years discovered that men with regular partners, mainly legal wives, had sex into their eighties. Yes, potency may decrease but the desire still exists!
With regard to psychology I believe that the James Levine case is instructive.
I was almost obsessed with the Levine scandal several years ago, gave it a lot of thought, and posted a lot about it on this blog.
Levine’s problem was not that he illegally had sex with minors (although he liked them young he was actually very careful to stay within the law) or that he “cheated” on anybody who realistically expected him to be sexually faithful. His problem was that he was in a position of power over young professional muscians or aspiring professional musicians and they felt obliged to do what he wanted because he was necessary for their professional success. He also explicitly made promises of professional or educational advancement to them that he did would not or could not keep.
Furthermore he had an excellent nose for sniffing out those who were the most emotionally vulnerable and were the most attracted to him and thus would be most amenable to sex with him.
As a psychiatric nurse I know that anybody who works in psychiatry in any capacity, from the psychiatrist to the secretary, or indeed in any “people” profession, such as teaching or social work, quickly learns about the importance of maintaining a professional distance. One of the many reasons for this is that if one becomes too close to someone his/her expectations will increase and when these expectations are not fulfilled he/she will feel very betrayed. Betrayed people are angry people who lash out perhaps physcially, as a hospitalized psychiatric patient might, or in other ways, as Levine’s accusers eventually found a way to do. They did not forget the betrayal, and indeed were still very angry, even 35 years later.
Having said that I do believe that people who are ambitious and need to be in the public eye perhaps have a greater need for sex. After all, a sexual “conquest” for many of these people, is another form of affirmation, like being applauded. This is why there are so many sex scandals are among performers and politicians (most of whom are another form of performer). Like the applause, sex for these people can become another form of addiction. Although Rudolph Nureyev was an extreme example of this you see it in a lot of performers.
I am not justifying this but I do believe that it is more difficult for performers to be more sexually controlled than others.
PD knew well for years that he was declining. This could have been why he hit on women, looking for that affirmation and applause of his charm because he was not getting it any more for his talent.
The healthy way that others deal with their declining voices or talent is to teach. Yes, there is some truth to the saying, “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” However by teaching not only would it help him carry on his legacy but it would enable others to “do” as he had done. He might not acheive the same level of affirmation but he would have a greater, and by far more positive, impact.