The Metropolitan Opera in Saudi Arabia

Lincoln Center Fountain

Photo by Lisa Hirsch

The Metropolitan Opera has decided to accept $100 million from Saudi Arabia (gift link) and will perform there for three weeks annually over a five-year period.  From the NY Times story I linked to:

Saudi Arabia’s record of human rights abuses, its restrictions on free speech and its role in the 2018 killing of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident, have led some in the West to call for shunning the kingdom. But in recent years both the Biden and the Trump administrations have sought closer relations with Saudi Arabia. And the country’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has relaxed some rules in the kingdom, tried to diversify its domestic economy beyond oil and worked to reshape its global image through large investments in business, sports, tourism and culture.

Under Mr. Gelb, the Met has been a vocal champion of political freedom and human rights in supporting Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, cutting ties with the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and with artists who had supported President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, including the star soprano Anna Netrebko.

Mr. Gelb said his support for cultural exchange with Saudi Arabia was different. He called the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, which American intelligence officials said had been approved by Prince Mohammed, “a horrendous event.” But he said he had been encouraged by the new social freedoms given to Saudi women, saying that the country was “trying to improve itself in the eyes of its own population and in the eyes of the world.”

Yeah, no. This is part of a general artwashing campaign on the part of Saudi Arabia. I know about this in part because recently I started getting press releases about various Saudi artistic endeavors.

The story I linked to doesn't even mention that the 9/11 attackers were largely Saudi and the plot was masterminded by a Saudi. It doesn't mention that the Saudis have bribed the Trump family through a gigantic amount of money that Jared Kushner is managing.

Related: read this Guardian story about comedians performing in Saudi Arabia.

It really sucks that the Met has fallen on bad financial times. Maybe Gelb should figure out how to get fund-raising back on track instead of accepting money from Saudi Arabia.