Mr. Brownlee called Mr. Tucker’s comments “racist” and “deeply disappointing” in a Facebook post on Monday. He said that while he was the only Black artist to have received the prize, there were many other Black singers whose talent would have made them worthy recipients. The Black Opera Alliance, an organization founded last month that aims to expose racial inequity in opera, wrote an open letter to the foundation’s board on Sunday calling for Mr. Tucker’s removal. “We are deeply disturbed,” Derrell Acon, the founder of the group and the director of engagement and equity at Long Beach Opera in California, wrote in the letter, to which other members of the group also contributed. “It is impossible for someone who holds these views to contribute productively to any organization that seeks to cultivate a culture of respect, equity and justice.”

Source: New York Times July 20, 2020 22:30 UTC