• Placido Domingo announced Sunday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus. The 79-year-old opera singer's illness comes after his glittering career had recently been stained by sexual misconduct revelations. The Spaniard said in a post on his personal Facebook account that "I feel it is my moral duty to announce to you that I have tested positive." Domingo says he and his family are in self-isolation and that he is feeling well despite having fever and a cough. "I beg everyone to be extremely careful, follow the basic guidelines by washing your hands frequently, keeping at least a 6 foot distance from others, doing everything you can to stop the virus from spreading and please above all stay home if you can!" he said. Last year, in stories published by The Associated Press, multiple women accused Domingo of harassment and abusing his power while he held management positions at Los Angeles Opera and Washington National Opera. After first denying any wrongdoing, Domingo issued an apology last month when the American Guild of Musical Artists and LA Opera found the sexual harassment allegations against him to be credible. He has since had a number of performances canceled. He also resigned as director of the LA Opera.
• Taylor Swift may have ended her feud with Katy Perry, but the one with Kanye West seems simply not to want to die. New leaked video clips of the entire 4-year-old phone call between the rapper and pop superstar about his controversial song "Famous" have been posted online and further complicate the picture of what happened. In "Famous," West raps: "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex, Why? I made that b * famous." Upon its release in 2016, West was condemned by many for the line. He insisted Swift had given it her blessing, but she denied having ever heard the lyric "I made that b * famous." The new clips seem to corroborate Swift's claims that West didn't tell her the full lyrics of the song. But they also show West repeatedly asking Taylor for her approval of the sex lyric and she does tell him she thinks it's funny, just as the rapper said when the song was released. "I never would have expected you to tell me about a line in one of your songs," Swift tells him. "That's really nice that you did." The new footage was posted online from an unknown source late Friday and rapidly spread across social media. Unlike previous videos of the call, it shows all 25 minutes, albeit chopped up. Representative for the two artists did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
A Section on 03/23/2020