Climate Activists Booed During Protest at NYC Opera

Climate protesters halted an opening night performance of Richard Wagner’s Tannhauser at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City on Thursday, November 30, shouting “no opera on a dead planet.”

The Met’s general manager said protesters delayed the performance for 22 minutes, according to news reports

This video, posted to X by user @peterjnyc, shows a banner that protesters unfurled and audience members booing protesters.

Extinction Rebellion, the climate activist group that claimed responsibility for the action, said that protesters timed the interruption 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.”

In a video posted to X by Extinction Rebellion, a protester can be heard shouting, “Wake up, the spring is polluted, the spring is tainted, the spring is poisoned.” Credit: @peterjnyc via Storyful

Video transcript

- [INAUDIBLE] Extinction Rebellion is here to tell you that this is [INAUDIBLE]. There will be no opera on a dead planet. There will be no [INAUDIBLE].

[BOOING]

There will be no [INAUDIBLE]. There will be no medicine on a dead planet. There will be no phones on a dead planet. There will be [INAUDIBLE].

[BOOING]

- Throw that guy off of the balcony! Throw him off the balcony!

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

- [INAUDIBLE] Extinction Rebellion is here to tell you that this is not [INAUDIBLE]. There will be no opera on a dead planet. There will be no [INAUDIBLE].

[BOOING]

There will be no [INAUDIBLE]. There will be no medicine on a dead planet. There will be no phones on a dead planet. There will be [INAUDIBLE].

[BOOING]

- Throw that guy off of the balcony! Throw him off the balcony!

[INTERPOSING VOICES]