A Metropolitan Opera singer has received death threats after she was mistaken for another Chinese soprano singing a Soviet anthem in the ruins of a Ukrainian theater where hundreds of people 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 criticism after footage of Wang Fang singing in the remains of the Mariupol Drama Theater was published last week.
“I have been receiving life-threatening messages and comments about an event that has 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! She continued.
“Fuck Ying Fang!” was the common refrain posted on social media after the video appeared online, as an X account that appeared to belong to her frantically responded to posts explaining that she was not the one singing at the destroyed Ukrainian theater.
Chinese opera singer Ying Fang faces death threats after being mistaken for another soprano who sang the Soviet anthem in a Ukrainian theater. Instagram/Ying Fang
In the controversial video, Wang Fang, known for singing patriotic Chinese songs, sings a triumphant number from a balcony inside the ruins of the Drama Theatre, where up to 600 civilians died while sheltering from Russian bombs.
The song Wang Fang sang was a Chinese rendition of “Katyusha,” which was one of the favorite folk tunes of the Soviet Red Army during World War II.
Ukrainian officials expressed their displeasure at the theater’s singing of the song, which has become a symbol of the horrors of the current Russian invasion.
Ying Fang is a Julliard-educated soprano who has traveled the world. fake images
“People died there, including children,” Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko said in a statement.
“Turning the theater into a tourist destination and singing about the bones of the dead is incredibly cynical and disrespectful for the memory of dead civilians.”
Mariupol remains under Russian control since it was captured after a brutal siege.
The official IMG Artists Instagram account posted a statement of support. Instagram / Ying Fang
Ying reposted the statement and thanked them for their support. Instagram / Ying Fang
While in Mariupol, Wang Fang met with Russian-installed city government officials, the New York Times reported, while the Ukrainian government accused her of entering the city and committing “complete moral degradation” with her actions.
Ying Fang’s management took to Instagram to issue a statement on her personal account explaining that she was not the one seen singing in Ukraine.
“Numerous individuals and accounts have chosen to ignore the facts that were published and instead inundated a completely innocent soprano, Ying Fang, with a torrent of despicable, violent and appallingly racist messages,” the imgartists said.
“Attempts to correct her mistakes… were met with even more viscous and hateful words based solely on the fact that Ying shares her ethnicity with the person in the article.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn