A musician came upon a disturbing site at the Metropoitan Opera on Saturday night before the performance of Turandot, according to NYPD. A bathrobe tied to look like a noose was hanging above the lockers in the men’s locker room at the theater, police said.
The musician who found the noose was white, but police are looking at the possibility that it was a hate crime targeting black people, according to the Post.
“This is a very disturbing incident for the members of our company and, if it was a deliberate act of racial hate, we would like to find out as soon as possible to help guide our next steps,” a Met spokesperson told the Post.
Photo via Metropolitan Opera.
WTH This event is heinous! I am very sorry that it happened to him
I would not expect such a display of racism at the Metropolitan Opera, of all the places. But I think the current inhabitant of the White House made such an atmosphere possible even at the centre of cultural life.
Right, because clearly anyone who loves the arts, has money, lives on the UWS, blah blah blah CAN’T be racist and full of hate! I have an idea! Let’s buy all the white supremacists season tickets to the opera and watch their hate just disappear. Laughable.
I think you missed the point.
I totally agree with you. I often observe deliberate acts of prejudice and hate even in this bubble we live in in here in NYC. It’s been this way since 11/8/16.
It’s been this way since..well forever! Wake Up, your blind spot is showing!
Liberal New Yorkers are just as racist, if not more so, than middle America..I know, I’ve lived in both places! And, an event like this proves it!
Sorry to burst your conservative bubbles, Brie and NPK, but as a Muslim, I can tell you that NYC is NOT as racist as so-called “middle America.”
When I lived in Buffalo, I feared for my safety, and couldn’t wear a headscarf without some idiot deciding that they needed to “make America great again” by being as rude as they possibly could to me.
In Manhattan, I haven’t had a single person say anything nasty about me being a Muslim. I get treated the same as everyone else.
Maybe your self-serving biases are in overdrive, and you’re both just looking for something, ANYTHING to disprove that Trump and his supporters are a pack of rabid racists.
Or, maybe neither of you are members of groups that actually have to face racism and discrimination, so you’re both just talking about something you know NOTHING about.
Welcome to NYC and I’m glad you feel safe here.
But I can assure you that Manhattanites – and UWSiders in particular – are just as “racist” as anybody else.
They just mask it in a disguise of being liberal.
The debacle over bringing poor minority project kids into PS 199 shows the true face of many self-proclaimed tolerant and progressives NYC residents.
Re: “In Manhattan, I haven’t had a single person say anything nasty about me being a Muslim. I get treated the same as everyone else.”
First: THANK YOU for pointing out that NYC (Manhattan especially, and probably all boros except maybe Staten Island (only boro to vote Trump)) is a tolerant and welcoming place.
As it mostly has been (EXCEPT for horrors like the 1863 Draft Riots and a well-hidden anti-immigrant bias among the 5th Avenue crowd) since it was the little Dutch trading post of Nieuw Amsterdam, where even in its earliest years some 18 languages could be heard.
Is there anything more pointless than debating whether place A is more racist (or more bigoted in any other way) than place B? There is lots of racism in New York City. Always has been. And there is lots of racism in the rest of the United States and the rest of the world. That’s what’s important. We need to speak out against racism everywhere. We need to speak out against every form of bigotry everywhere. These debates–who’s better, who’s worse–accomplish nothing.
Bravo Bob Lamm!
i try to make a point of speaking up whenever i see racism expressed in the comments of WSR. there is a certain small group that can’t seem to stop themselves from posting demeaning comments against the black and hispanic communities every chance they get.
I hope more people speak out when they see this in the comments section. Maybe it will make these people, who are convinced they speak for “the silent majority”, a little more hesitant to post their venom.
@BB
I’ve seen your numerous comments on WSR.
You stalk people you disagree with and hurl personal insults at them. You’re also intolerant and narrow minded.
You’re the last person who should lecture anyone about commenting etiquette.
Hurling insults is probably not a great idea when complaining that someone is hurling insults.
Just sayin’…
Well said, OriginalMark.
There’s a difference between “hurling insults” and stating facts.
Just sayin…..
I admire you, Bruce, for speaking out against the racism right here in comments on the West Side Rag. It is facilitated, of course, by the fact that many of the worst offenders can hide behind aliases.
thank you, Bob, that is appreciated. I agree that people hide behind anonymity to express views that they can’t possibly be proud of.
If there is a racist basis to this the person and/or persons responsible should be tried and sentenced to the fullest extend of the law. But if it turns out not to be so it should also be reported on just as well and the people responsible should be tried and sentenced to the fullest extend of the law. There has been a rash of these claims that turned out to be false and/or fake over the past few years. With people saying they made it up and/or did it to “spark a dialogue about race”. Racism should not and can not be tolerated in any form, but we also go after the false reporters as well as they take away from real incidents. Ex: Remember the Columbia prof that claimed to have found a nose, and then it turned out she placed it there herself as she was about to have a disciplinary hearing to be fired, or the various incidents that were reported in NYC earlier this year in NYC that the person recanted or admitted doing themselves after Trump won? If you fake it you should be charged with filing a false police report and have to pay for the time and expense that was wasted and taken away from looking at other crimes.
police work quickly when a crime is committed at the Met. remember the 1980 Craig Crimmins case? that was a doozie.
https://www.nypress.com/craig-crimmins-phantom-of-the-metropolitan-opera/
Sadly, I’m not at all shocked. I’m actually surprised that it doesn’t happen more often, even at iconic cultural institutions like the Met Opera.
My first impulse after reading this article was overwhelming anger and a desire for justice that included inflicting extreme pain on the lowlife that committed this horrific act. I also felt deeply resentful that anyone would do this in my ‘protected’, seemingly open-minded UWS neighborhood.
The truth is, no community is immune from racism and resentment – it’s just that the well-heeled ones seem to hide it better. And while I think that present political leadership at the highest level has done an effective job at pitting people from different backgrounds against each other, they didn’t invent hate.
The real question is, how do you kill this (racism) cancer before it metastasizes? Maybe communities need to do a better job of inclusion? Maybe the extreme gap between income inequality needs to be seriously addressed as an existential threat. Whatever the solutions, I think we need to begin implementing them much sooner than later.
Has a single one of these “noose incidents” not turned out to be a hoax in the end? Is there an actual photo of the noose (or bathrobe or whatever it is)?
Pls beware that NYPD has not identified this as a basis crime. They are investigating to see if was, and/or if there was any crime involved at all.
Our world will never be without racism and discrimination. Unfortunately homo sapiens have an inherent “us vs them”, “we and they” mentality that is simply part of our makeup (and reinforced by society every day). Of course we should fight it and do everything we can to eliminate it but it will be an endless battle with no victory. We are flawed beyond repair.
We are different, but One.
You meant sight, not site!
Not sure whether anyone here is aware that on October 23, two African American singers of immense talent, Angel Blue and Russell Thomas played the roles of Mimi and Rodolfo in La Boheme. It was the first time ever that black singers sang those roles together at the Met Opera. The performances were spectacular. The audience gave these 2 young stars a standing ovation. I know because I was there.
That makes this incident particularly reprehensible, painful and sad.