The New York Times (Javier Hernandez) reported this Sunday:
The Metropolitan Opera said on Sunday that it would no longer engage with performers or other institutions that have voiced support for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, becoming the latest cultural organization to seek to distance itself from some Russian artists amid Mr. Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
Peter Gelb, the Met's general manager, said that the Met, which has long employed Russians as top singers and has a producing partnership with the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, had an obligation to show support for the people of Ukraine.
"While we believe strongly in the warm friendship and cultural exchange that has long existed between the artists and artistic institutions of Russia and the United States," Mr. Gelb said in a video statement, "we can no longer engage with artists or institutions that support Putin or are supported by him."
I certainly don't support Putin, but I don't support ideological blacklists, either, whether it's of artists who back Putin, or who back the Chinese government, or who back Trump or Biden or Ocasio-Cortez. Indeed, one problem with these blacklists is that they lead to calls for broader blacklists. (Indeed, what about Chinese performers who, whether out of ideological conviction or misplaced patriotism or fear of reprisal, have spoken out in support of Xi Jinping?)
