Guilty Pleasures
By Associated Press
New York Philharmonic fires two players after accusations of sexual misconduct and abuse of power
The New York Philharmonic is firing principal oboist Liang Wang and associate principal trumpet Matthew Muckey after their union decided not contest the decision, which followed renewed allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse of power.
The orchestra said Monday it issued a notice of non-reengagement to the two effective Sept. 21, 2025.
Wang and Muckey were fired in September 2018 following allegations of misconduct dating to 2010. Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians filed a grievance and the two were ordered reinstated in April 2020 by arbitrator Richard I. Bloch. Both men deny any wrongdoing.
New York Magazine in April detailed allegations and the two were placed on paid leave. They then sued the orchestra and the union.
Local 802’s executive board said in a nine-page decision issued Tuesday that every member of the orchestra’s nine-member dismissal review committee “expressed revulsion at the abuse of power and pattern of behavior.”
Philharmonic executive adviser Deborah Borda said 11 women made accusations against Wang and three against Muckey during the latest investigation.
“It found that both gentlemen had been involved in sexual abuse and rape as well as abuse of power,” Borda said. “This is all new information that came out and I think the reason is that people were afraid to speak up before and they are not now.”
Borda said some of the allegations were made by students.
Steven J. Hyman, a lawyer for Muckey, accused the union of a “baseless smear campaign, ignoring clear evidence to the contrary.”
“Local 802’s decision is deeply troubling and raises serious questions about potential collusion with the philharmonic in their effort to terminate Matthew Muckey without just cause,” Hyman said in a statement Tuesday. “They reference an alleged encounter from 2008 with a young woman, claiming she did not provide meaningful consent; however, contemporaneous text messages directly contradict this allegation.”
Alan S. Lewis, a lawyer for Wang, called the union’s decision “shameful.”
“Troublingly, the philharmonic has gone down the road of public character assassination instead of due process, throwing a lot of mud against the wall to see what sticks,” he wrote Monday in an email to The Associated Press. Lewis described the most serious allegation against Wang involving a person unaffiliated with the orchestra and “with whom, more than a decade ago, Liang had a long-term consensual relationship.”
He called the other allegations against Wang false.
The philharmonic this spring hired Tracey Levy of Levy Employment Law to investigate and issued a letter of non-re-engagement on Oct. 15 following Levy’s conclusions that the orchestra said were based on new accusations. Muckey said in his lawsuit the New York Magazine story contained “a reiteration of the same 2010 allegations.”
The guild’s executive committee decision said in Wang’s case 11 witnesses “testified to specific instances of rape, sexual assault, grooming of a young female musician, inappropriate touching and comments, unwelcome kissing, and other sexually harassing behavior.”
The report said a woman six years younger than Muckey testified they “had sex when she was 18 years old and was too incapacitated by alcohol to voluntarily consent.”
“While the allegations concerning Muckey are not as numerous as those involving Wang, we cannot ignore the fact that they demonstrate a similar abuse of power and failure to acknowledge the importance of a woman’s consent to sexual relations,” the report said.
Under the orchestra’s labor contract, the philharmonic must give notice of a non-reengagement by the Feb. 15 prior to the season in question. The two had the right to contest the decision, which the orchestra said must be “appropriate” under the collective bargaining agreement instead of a “just cause” standard.
“Local 802’s decision is not to arbitrate the termination,” local 802 president Sara Cutler wrote in an email to the orchestra members on Monday.
The executive board’s unanimous report said it was not determining whether criminal conduct took place but only “whether the notices of non-reengagement were appropriate.”
“Considering the 11 witnesses who testified about Wang’s pattern of sexual violence and harassment over many years, we do not credit his denials or failure to remember these events,” the report said. “With respect to Muckey, we similarly do not find his denials sufficient to overcome the testimony of the witness whom the investigator found credible and the pattern of conduct she described. Additionally, the lack of any contrition and the absence of any empathy shown towards the victims reinforces our view that the dismissal was appropriate.”
The report said two-thirds of the orchestra members had said they would refuse to appear on stage with the two.
Muckey was hired by the orchestra in June 2006 and was given tenure in January 2008. Wang was hired as principal oboe in September 2006.
“They are barred from the building,” Borda said. “They will never appear on the stage again with the philharmonic.”
Minneapolis musician Tyka Nelson, Prince’s sister and only full sibling, dies at 64
NEW YORK | Minneapolis musician Tyka Nelson, Prince’s only full sibling, died Monday at North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, her son President Nelson confirmed to The Associated Press. She was 64.
A cause of death was not immediately available, and President Nelson said he doesn’t expect to know “for a couple of days.”
Born to jazz musician John L. Nelson and Mattie Della Shaw in 1960, two years after Prince, Nelson was a singer-songwriter, releasing four albums across her career, starting with 1988’s “Royal Blue.” That album produced her biggest hits, “Marc Anthony’s Tune,” which spent 11 weeks on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, peaking at No. 33, and “L.O.V.E.,” which spent seven weeks on the chart and topped at No. 52.
At the time, she told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, “The album is basically about love relationships between a man and a woman. I’m royal blue because I can’t find him,” she said.
It’s an alternative to her brother’s chosen color of purple. Of their relationship, she said: “The funniest thing is people say, ‘How does it feel to be Prince’s sister?’ They don’t actually realize what they’re saying. I’ve been Prince’s sister ever since I got here on Earth.”
The Associated Press described her “Royal Blue” album as “mostly adult-contemporary or easy-listening” material, “far removed from Prince and the so-called Minneapolis sound. Hers is a mature, romantic sound aimed at 25- to 45-year-olds.”
Then came 1992’s “Yellow Moon, Red Sky,” 2008’s “A Brand New Me,” and finally, 2011’s “Hustler.”
Nelson is survived by two sons, President and Sir, and five grandchildren.
“Born 1960, the daughter of Mattie and John Nelson, she was best known as Prince’s sister and worked to keep his legacy alive with his fans attending fan and industry events,” President Nelson shared in a statement. “Services will be private, and in lieu of flowers, the family has asked that you take care of one another.”
According to the Star Tribune, Nelson was scheduled to retire and perform a farewell concert at the Dakota in downtown Minneapolis in June. Illness caused her not to take the stage. A few days before the concert, she said she had a mixtape on the way and was working on a memoir.
Prince died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in 2016 at his home in Minneapolis. He was 57. He had no will, and his six siblings inherited equal interests in the estate: Tyka Nelson and five half-siblings — Sharon Nelson, Norrine Nelson, John R. Nelson, Omarr Baker and Alfred Jackson.
Tyka Nelson, Baker and Jackson, the three youngest, sold their stake to a music publishing company called Primary Wave Music, LLC, which later assigned its interests to an affiliate, Prince OAT Holdings LLC. Jackson has since died.
Representatives for Paisley Park, Prince’s private estate which is also a museum, studio, and concert venue in Chanhassen, Minnesota, did not immediately respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment.
Ruby slippers from ‘The Wizard of Oz’ are for sale nearly 2 decades after they were stolen
DALLAS | A pair of ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz” is on the auction block nearly two decades after a thief stole the iconic shoes, convinced they were adorned with real jewels.
Online bidding has started and will continue through Dec. 7, Heritage Auctions in Dallas announced in a news release Monday.
The auction company received the sequin-and-bead-bedazzled slippers from Michael Shaw, the memorabilia collector who originally owned the footwear at the heart of the beloved 1939 musical. Shaw had loaned the shoes in 2005 to the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
That summer, someone smashed through a display case and stole the slippers. Their whereabouts remained a mystery until the FBI recovered them in 2018.
Now the museum is among those vying for the slippers, which were one of several pairs Garland wore during the filming. Only four remain.
Grand Rapids raised money for the slippers at its annual Judy Garland festival. The funds will supplement the $100,000 set aside this year by Minnesota lawmakers to purchase the slippers.
The man who stole the slippers, Terry Jon Martin, was 76 when he was sentenced in January to time served because of his poor health. He admitting to using a hammer to smash the glass of the museum’s door and display case in what his attorney said was an attempt to pull off “one last score” after an old associate with connections to the mob told him the shoes had to be adorned with real jewels to justify their $1 million insured value.
The auction of movie memorabilia includes other items from “The Wizard of Oz,” such as a hat worn by Margaret Hamilton’s Wicked Witch of the West and the screen door from Dorothy’s Kansas home.
—From AP reports
