Georgia: Opera singer to hold LGBT charity concert to apologise for ‘faecal masses’ rant
An opera singer fired for a homophobic Facebook rant has announced she is organising a benefit concert, the proceeds of which are to go to local LGBT charities.
Although she later blamed her husband for the rant, she was then released from her contract with Opera Australia, where she was due to feature in a production of ‘Otello’.
The event will be held on 11 October, to mark Georgia’s National Coming Out Day. Proceeds will be used to assist victims of violence in Georgia, and she has called on other Georgian artists to participate.
She told a press conference on Thursday: “I feel that the wound inflicted to a certain minority is still sore, and it caused a lot of controversy in Australia as well, where they told me about their existence, how they were rejected by their families.
“Almost all of them finished their post with something along the lines of, ‘Your post has once again plunged me into despair’. And so I felt obliged to somehow respond to these people, to both acknowledge them and apologise to them.”
Iveri also told journalists that the decision to leave Opera Australia was her own. “I wish[ed] to ensure that the performances take place undisturbed by any further controversy,” she said.
“I do not want such an important artistic event to be marred by any problem which, however unintentionally, has developed because of my presence in the cast.”
She added: “I abhor prejudice in any form altogether. I have been performing in an art form that includes thousands of gay people on both sides of the stage, and there is no one who can come forward and claim that I have ever exhibited any such prejudice against them.”
