Banned for Life: Man Gets Boot After ‘Heckling’ Black Child At Royal Opera House Performance

A man has received a lifetime ban from the Royal Opera House in London after he heckled a 12-year-old child during his performance.

Malakai M. Bayoh was making his debut as Oberta in the George Frideric Handel opera seria Alcina on Tuesday, November 8.

Bayoh is a music student at the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School in London. According to The Daily Beast, when Bayoh took to the stage, the heckler yelled, “Rubbish!” and booed the young performer. Associate art editor of the Financial Times, Josh Spero, tweeted about the incident and asked who would do such a thing to a child.

“The nastiest thing happened @RoyalOperaHouse tonight during Alcina: a ~12yo boy was sweetly singing his lines when a man in the audience yelled ‘rubbish!’ and booed him. Who would do that to a child? Once the boy was done, the audience responded with wild applause and cheering.”

Wishing all the best to our Malakai who this evening makes his debut as Oberta at the @RoyalOperaHouse in their new production of Handel’s Alcina. #rohalcina pic.twitter.com/EeYEaKRIOz

— Cardinal Vaughan Music (@CVMSMusic) November 8, 2022

The Royal Opera House also tweeted about the offensive disruption and confirmed that the man was no longer welcome at the facility.

“Unfortunately, the opening night of Alcina featured an audience member who disrupted the show and the excellent performance by young singer Malakai M Bayoh. We are appalled that a member of the audience behaved in this way and steps have been taken to ensure the audience member in question does not return to the Royal Opera House.”

We are appalled that a member of the audience behaved in this way and steps have been taken to ensure the audience member in question does not return to the Royal Opera House.
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— Royal Ballet and Opera (@rbo_org) November 9, 2022

The Royal Opera House also congratulated Bayoh on his excellent performance despite the rude disturbance.

“We would like to congratulate Malakai M Bayoh for his stellar performance as Oberto in our first night of Alcina,” said the spokesperson.

“Malakai is astonishingly talented—bringing great acting and beautiful singing to the role—a huge accomplishment for such a young singer.”

Bayoh received thunderous applause and cheering from the audience at the end of the show.