A Metropolitan Opera singer received death threats after she was mistaken for another Chinese soprano who sang Soviet Union songs in the ruins of a Ukrainian theater where hundreds were killed by Russian bombs last year.
Ying Fang, a Julliard School-educated soprano who has performed around the world, became the target of online vitriol after footage was released of Wang Fang singing at the funeral of the Drama Theater in Mariupol last week.
“I have received life-threatening messages and comments about events that have absolutely nothing to do with me,” Ying Fang responded in a statement posted on social media, according to OperaWire.
“The person in this video is not ME! Stop spreading rumors and hateful comments!” he continued.
“F–k Ying Fang!” was the usual ban posted on social media after the video appeared online, as an X account that appeared to belong to him frantically responded to a post clarifying that he was not the person who sang in the destroyed Ukrainian theater.
Chinese opera singer Ying Fang faced death threats after being mistaken for another soprano singing Soviet songs in a Ukrainian theater.Instagram / Ying Fang
In the controversial video, Wang Fang — famous for singing patriotic Chinese songs — performed a winning number from a balcony in the ruins of the Drama Theatre, where up to 600 civilians were killed as they took cover from Russian bombs.
The song Wang Fang sang was the Chinese rendition of “Katyusha,” which was a favorite folk song among the Soviet Red Army during World War II.
Ukrainian officials voiced their disgust at the singing of the song in the theater, which has become a symbol of the horrors of Russia’s ongoing aggression.
Ying Fang is a Julliard School-educated soprano who has traveled the world. Getty Images
“People died there, among them children,” Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said in a statement.
“To turn the theater into a tourist destination and sing over the bones of the dead is incredibly cynical and disrespectful to the memory of the civilian dead.”
Mariupol has remained under Russian control since it was seized following a brutal siege.
The official Instagram account for IMG Artists posted a statement in support. Instagram / Ying Fang
Ying reposted the statement, thanking them for their support. Instagram / Ying Fang
While in Mariupol, Wang Fang met with government officials stationed in Russia in the city, the New York Times reported, while the Ukrainian government accused him of entering the city and committing “total depravity” with his performance.
Ying Fang’s management via Instagram issued a statement on her personal account explaining that she is not the person seen singing in Ukraine.
“Many individuals and accounts have chosen to ignore the published facts and instead inundate the completely innocent soprano, Ying Fang, with a stream of vile, violent and deeply racist messages,” imgartist said.
“Attempts to correct their mistakes … have been met with even more vitriolic and hateful words based on the fact that Ying shares her ethnicity with the person in the article.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
