Met Opera fires icon Levine

‘Confirms’ sex abuse

James Levine, the former director emeritus of the Metropolitan Opera, was dethroned from his podium permanently Monday after the institution found evidence of sexual abuse and harassment.

The legendary conductor, 74, had been suspended from the Met and placed under investigation in December after The Post revealed he had allegedly molested an Illinois man starting when the victim was just 15 years old.

The Opera House said in a statement that the investigation found Levine (right) had “engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct towards vulnerable artists in the early stages of their careers.”

No specifics were released, but the company said 70 people had been interviewed and added that “it would be inappropriate and impossible for Mr. Levine to continue to work at the Met.”

Levine, who served as the Met’s musical director for 40 years until he retired from that position in 2016, has denied the accusations.

His representative did not immediately return a request for comment.

One of Levine’s alleged victims first met him at the Ravinia Festival outside Chicago, according to a police report. Levine was a guest conductor there at the time.

The victim, whose name is being withheld, finally came forward to the Lake Forest, Ill., police department in October 2016 to detail the molestation that allegedly began in 1985.

The man’s accusations included disturbing incidents in which Levine would masturbate in front of him and kiss his penis, according to the police report.

“I began seeing a 41year-old man when I was 15, without really understanding I was really ‘seeing’ him,” the alleged victim, now 48, said in a written statement to the police.

“It nearly destroyed my family and almost led me to suicide,” the man added. “I felt alone and afraid. He was trying to seduce me. I couldn’t see this. Now I can.”

Following that victim’s revelation, two other men came forward to claim that Levine had sexually abused them as teenagers.

Levine, who made his debut at the Met in 1971 at age 28, has been nominated for 37 Grammy Awards and honored by the Kennedy Center. But the conductor has been plagued by rumors of improper behavior throughout his career.

The Met was first alerted about accusations of Levine’s inappropriate behavior in 1979. At the time, they dismissed the claims as “scurrilous rumors.”