Watch: Opera Spirals Into Chaos When Activists Interrupt Performance, Angering Audience: ‘Shut Up!’

Climate activists angered opera fans at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, by standing up and screaming during an opening night performance of Tannhäuser, Thursday.

Radical climate group Extinction Rebellion, NYC, took credit for the protest on social media, and shared videos of the disruptions.

Halfway through the second act of the performance, several protesters stood up and demanded an end to fossil fuels. One man scolded the audience to “wake up” to the “climate emergency,” before unfolding a black banner that said, “No opera on a dead planet.”

“Wake up! The stream is polluted!  The stream is tainted! The stream is poison! This is a climate emergency! This is a climate emergency. There will be no opera on a dead planet!” he shouted.

The first disruption was timed by the group to coincide with a character’s line in the opera, Extinction Rebellion said.

“The disruption was timed to coincide with the main character’s declaration that ‘love is a spring to be drunk from,’ and highlighted the fact that, contrary to those words spoken on stage, springs are not pure now, because we are in a climate crisis, and our water is contaminated,” the group said in a statement.

As the protesters were ushered out by security, audience members booed and jeered at the activists. The performance was stopped again, when another activist with Extinction Rebellion stood up and shouted a similar message.

Angry audience members demanded the woman leave, shouting “Shut up!” “Get out of here!” “Go outside!” “This isn’t the place!” One person can be seen yanking the protester’s scarf.

Some attendees walked out of the performance and questioned the venue’s security, according to the New York Times.

The Met said that the performance was stopped for a total of 22 minutes and police were called to remove the protesters.

Extinction Rebellion explained the disruption was intended to highlight that the “climate and ecological crisis threatens everything on our planet, including opera.”

Read the full story here.

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