Nolte: Saudis Back Out of Metropolitan Opera’s $200 Million Blood-Money Bailout

The same leftist elites who enjoyed spasms of outrage for the better part of a year after the Saudi government was accused of murdering the Washington Post’s Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 now have zero problem accepting $200 million from those same Saudis when it means bailing out their precious Metropolitan Opera House.

Well, now the bailout is dead, and everyone’s pretty upset and looking to blame the Bad Orange Man.

According to the far-left New York Times, sometime last year, the 142-year-old Met went crawling to the Saudis for a bailout. In exchange for a $200 million endowment payable over eight years, the Met would host a winter resident for three weeks at the Royal Diriyah Opera House just outside Riyadh.

The Met’s general manager, Peter Gelb, rationalized doing business with these human rights abusers and murderers of Khashoggi this way:

Under Mr. Gelb, the Met has been a vocal champion of political freedom and human rights in supporting Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, cutting ties with the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow and with artists who had supported President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, including the star soprano Anna Netrebko.

Mr. Gelb said his support for cultural exchange with Saudi Arabia was different… “All the democratic governments that I know of are engaged in business with Saudi Arabia,” Mr. Gelb said.

He added this beauty: “I have to put the survival of the institution of the Met first.”

Yeah, let’s not fall on the sword of our principles here. What’s a little blood money if it means your snooty opera house survives?

Democrats sure got it good.

Today we learned that the Saudis have backed out of the deal, citing the economic disruption caused by the Orange Bad Man’s war with Iran and the ensuing issues surrounding the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. Yep, it’s Trump’s fault.

Hey, maybe Trump will bail out the Met. All you need to do is rename the place the Trumpopolitan Opera House.

The Met is in serious financial trouble. Since the ridiculous pandemic shutdowns, what had been $150 million in annual revenue from ticket sales and transmission to live events at movie theaters around the country has collapsed to just $100 million. Even so, that $150 million was only half the Met’s annual operating budget. The remaining $150 million was made up with contributions.

How in the world can it cost $300 million per year to put on operas? Where’s all that money going to?

To make up the shortfall, other than selling its soul to the Saudis, the Met had to dip into its endowment. What had been a $340 million endowment in 2022 is just $216 million in 2026.

Already, the Met is down to just 17 operas per year compared to 25 a few years ago.

The Met is seen as a vital American institution… And yet, the cheapest ticket for this Saturday’s production of La Boheme is $259 for the balcony, so…

It’s really only an institution for certain Americans.

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