The public prosecutor’s office is investigating allegations of sexism at the Bayreuth Festival. “The investigation was initiated ex officio due to the media coverage,” said a spokesman for the Bayreuth public prosecutor’s office on Wednesday, confirming media reports. “The procedure is currently not against a specific person, but against unknown persons.” A criminal complaint is not yet available, said the spokesman.
In the “Nordbayerisches Kurier” women had reported anonymously in the past week that they had been touched on the Green Hill or had to listen to sexual innuendos. Festival boss Katharina Wagner confirmed that she was also affected: “Sexual innuendos and some assaults in a way, yes,” she told the German Press Agency. “But I knew how to defend myself.” She added that she “acted very, very clearly”.
She was “shocked” by reports of assaults, insults and insinuations, Wagner said. The Festspiele announced the consequences. “These are outrageous allegations,” said the chairman of the board of directors, Georg von Waldenfels. There is “no mistake at all that we will pursue this with all seriousness and intransigence”.
The Bayreuth Festival started on Monday with a new production of “Tristan und Isolde”.