Gossip

Update: Royal Opera in ‘Shrunken Penis’ Scandal???

| London's West End |

5 March 2008

UPDATED, Fri 7 Mar 2008 @ 1.30pm: Further information – including a statement from actor Juan Pablo di Pace – has now been added to this item. Updates are denoted in bold below.

So amusing it deserves a mention … Argentine actor Juan Pablo di Pace is reportedly considering legal action against the Royal Opera House for “shrinking his penis”. Pablo di Pace first appeared naked in a promotional shot for the ROH production of Verdi’s Rigoletto in 2001. Subsequently, the image was used in posters and brochures for revivals of the production. Various newspapers have reported that the actor has complained that in a 2005 poster his “package” was airbrushed in a way to “make it look like he barely had one at all”. A good advert for the Opera House perhaps, but not such a good advert for Pablo di Pace’s manhood. Ouch.

Juan Pablo di Pace arrived in London this morning (7 March 2008) after working for a month filming in Argentina. At 8.50am, he did a live interview with BBC Radio 5 Live. He said he found circus surrounding his issues with a Royal Opera House poster “hilarious”. He says that, contrary to the recent press coverage, his reason for requesting the withdrawal of the image had nothing to do with the airbrushing of any part of his anatomy.

He told Radio 5 Live: “I actually love the poster. They make me look great in it like some kind of Carravaggio painting. Whether they airbrushed anything or not doesn’t really matter to me. If I had any hang-ups with nakedness, I wouldn’t have bothered in the first place. The reason why I asked them to withdraw the poster was because I’ve never once been asked for my consent and I have never received any payment for advertising their show. I was in the show seven years ago and they were still using my picture to advertise their opera. I just thought it was time they changed the record and got a new campaign, that’s all. I’m glad they’ve withdrawn it now and as far as I’m concerned that’s it.”

A spokesman for the actor said that the Royal Opera House has been happy to report to press that the poster had been withdrawn because the actor complained about airbrushing in order to deflect from the real reason, ie that actor’s image had been used for seven years without consent or any offer of payment.