As it publishes new denunciations each day, the newspaper calls on the public to keep it supplied with reports of sexual heresy.

The Metropolitan’s action is a cowardly capitulation to the hysteria incited by the filthy New York Times, whose demented publisher and editors are sniffing the bed sheets of the nation in search of sexual malefactors.

The New York Times reports that Peter Gelb, the general manager of the opera house, “dismissed rumors circulating online that the Met had reached settlements in the past with the families of abused victims as untrue.” Gelb stated, “Since I’ve been at the Met there has not been a single instance of somebody coming forward to make a complaint, ever, about Levine in recent Met history.” In any case, none of the incidents appear to have anything to do with Levine’s tenure at the Metropolitan Opera, so it is unclear why the opera’s board is investigating these events, let alone why it has suspended Levine. And were Levine charged, he would be entitled to be presumed innocent until convicted by a court of law. The statute of limitations, which after all exists for a reason, has long since passed. The alleged victim in Illinois was 16 when the incident occurred, below the state’s age of consent, 17.Įven if it were argued that the latter episode might have involved illegal activity, Levine has not been charged with any crime. Two individuals were 17 at the time, and the third was 20. It is not evident, based on the Times account, that the three alleged incidents in the state of Michigan involved criminal behavior at all. Should we all stand and shout “Bravo” for yellow journalism of this sort? The life work of a musician who has played a central role in the history of America’s most important opera house is being buried beneath an avalanche of muck dredged up and reported in lurid detail by the Times. That unproven allegations about sexual interactions, which might have happened decades, or even a half-century ago, should be used to destroy Levine is nothing less than horrifying. The allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein, it is now obvious, merely served as a prelude and a pretext.įour individuals have accused Levine of impropriety in incidents that happened from 30 to nearly 50 years ago. The newspaper has devoted considerable resources to tracking down such stories for the purposes of blackening a given personality’s name and eviscerating him or her. The Times is leading the gutter press in actively soliciting allegations, claims or rumors about alleged sexual misdeeds and heresies-heterosexual and homosexual alike-committed by prominent individuals.

The sexual misconduct campaign in the US is metastasizing and in its reactionary sweep and recklessness borrowing elements from the McCarthyite purges of the 1950s, the New England witch trials of the 1690s and even the Inquisition of the late Middle Ages. The decision by the Metropolitan Opera in New York City to suspend James Levine, its longtime musical director (1976-2016), from any further conducting engagements is the latest victory for the New York Times and the champions of the new repression.

Conductor of the metropolitan opera