Alagna denies wife-beating claims

Roberto Alagna's lawyers have just issued the above statement on behalf of their client.

You are welcome to comment, but please bear in mind that comments are moderated, and any repetition of the alleged defamation will not be published.

 

 

Comments

[Siggy]

The only possibly recourse for Mr Alagna frankly - and presumbly the reason AG removed herself from social media sites - on her own lawyers advice I would hazard.

[Rick]

Aren't liable laws pretty strict in the UK? (So either party who prints untruths are potentially on the hook for a lot in terms of damages?)
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Intermezzo replies - We call them libel laws, and yes, the payouts can be pretty large (depending on the loss/injury that results).

[Ellen Christine]

Bravo, for Roberto'sw part. thank God for legal intervention.

[SJT]

Have any of you ever seen an English Punch and Judy show?

Trust me, there will be sausages and a crocodile before long....

[Sheila]

I forget. My journalism law class was a long time ago. In the U.S., truth trumps damage. In the UK, it's damage that trumps truth, right? Or, as my mother used to say when I was too hasty trying to cross traffic, "You could be right, but you could be dead right."

[Lynn]

She left the Lyric Opera in rehearsal production without permission and flew to the Met to see Alagna, & was fired by the Lyric Opera.

[inter mezzo]

No, defamation is implicitly not truth, wherever you are

[Larry Mitchell]

This is really getting nasty and it's all so unnecessary. It's like we're dealing with nursery school kids. Am very curious how this will effect her performances in London beginning on July 5th.

[Diane]

You have just enlightened me as to the source of inspiration for last year's Salzburg production of "Giulio Cesare"; amazing that I didn't notice it before ...

[amac]

Wasn't that the production of La Boheme ?

Where the response was who needs to rehearse Boheme anyway !

Which to be honest is pretty much the case these days !

Anyway m'learned friends are prodably the only people who will get much out of this !

[jurgen Werther]

Why is it now commonplace for people to wash their dirty linen in public?

The advent of social media seems to have made it compulsory that we, the prurient public, feel short changed if there isn't any dirt for us to be grubbing around in. The 'stars' seem only too willing to bear all for our titillation.

Other than spicing up the sale of slow moving tickets for La Rondine what purpose has this squalid affair achieved?

[scheherezade]

Truth is always a defence to libel proceedings under U.K. law. Additionally, although a plaintiff may bring a successful libel action, the amount of damages awarded will depend upon whether or not his/her reputation can be said to have been damaged by the libellous statement (hence, cases in which successful litigants have been awarded damages of 1p). This concept, some might think, may give rise to a healthy degree of speculation.

[Chimene]

No, it wasn't La Boheme, it was Romeo & Juliette with Anna Netrebko...

[Nik]

The main difference is the burden of proof.

In the US (as in most other jurisdictions), a libel claim is only successful if the plaintiff can prove that the statement is defamatory.

Under English law, the presumption is that the statement is defamatory, unless the defendant can prove that it is true.

This is the reason we have "libel tourism" - plaintiffs from all over the world bringing libel claims in England in cases that have (at best) very tenuous connections to this country.

[Nik]

Ever since THAT interview, the tide has been unstoppable.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VkEnGQ1n9k

[Sheila]

What purpose? Who assumes a purpose from every utterance made by a lady not known for tactful public speech?

In fairness, the airing of dirty linen has been a facet of print and other media for many years. Most Sunday newspaper feature sections include a celebrity profile that basically describes an actor's or singer's or whatever's fall from grace, usually into drug or alcohol addiction, and how they've now repented, and so on and so forth, ad infinitum ad nauseam. Television interviews are only considered successful if the interviewee can be lured into a damning confession. The Internet makes it easier, but is not to blame. To answer you, yes, it is now commonplace for people to wash their dirty linen in public.