Dancer who unfurled Palestinian flag at Royal Opera House told they will never work there again
Daniel Perry claims 'right wing media coverage' of 'act of resistance' has been 'comical; slams ROH as 'disgusting' for finding stunt 'inappropriate'
A dancer who unfurled a Palestinian flag during a performance at the Royal Opera House has been told they will never work there again.
Saturday’s incident saw Daniel Perry, a self-described “queer dance artist” who goes by ‘they/them’ pronouns, hold the flag at the end of a performance of Il Trovatore.
In a Novara Media video, Perry says: “When the curtain came down, (Royal Opera House director) Oliver Mears said to me, very aggressively, ‘You will never work for the opera house ever again.’ To which I responded, I don’t give a flying f**k.'”
They added: “I chose to do my demonstration during my curtain call. I chose to make it about something bigger than me. I did it because I wanted to draw attention to the atrocities that are taking place towards the Palestinian people by Israeli Defence Forces currently in Gaza.”
Perry claims the “right-wing media coverage has been honestly quite comical to me”, that “they’re trying to make a mockery of me and a mockery of my defiance and steer the story away from the actual story of what is happening in Gaza right now.”
They also repeated claims that Israel’s actions have been recognised as a “genocide” by the United Nations and International Court of Justice.
They stated they “acted alone” because they have “felt alone trying to have these conversations with others in the industry”. Perry denounced the Royal Opera House as “disgusting” for calling their “act of resistance” inappropriate.
In a statement, the Royal Opera House said the display of the flag was “an unauthorised action by the artist” and it “was not approved by the Royal Ballet and Opera and is a wholly inappropriate act.”
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