Anna Netrebko’s Defamation Complaint against the Metropolitan Opera and Peter Gelb has been dismissed.

In her decision, United State District Judge Annalisa Torres said, that Netrebko and her team failed to prove that Peter Gelb “acted with actual malice when he made the allegedly defamatory statements.”

Additionally, the judge concluded that Netrebko’s team were unable to prove that “Gelb’s 2024 and 2025 remarks” were made in retaliation to the lawsuit. In this regard, Judge Torres noted that “Gelb had made numerous critical statements in public news sources well before this lawsuit was filed.”

However, the judge  did add that Netrebko could “seek leave to amend her supplemental complaint.”

Torres had previously dismissed the defamation claims back in 2024, but in 2025, following multiple comments made by Gelb in the press, Netrebko’s lawyer Julie Ulmet submitted a revised supplemental complaint in her lawsuit. That complaint alleged that the Met Opera and Peter Gelb defamed and disparaged her in retaliation for asserting her rights and noted that the Met Opera and Gelb inflicted further harm on Netrebko’s career by publicly dissuading other opera companies from employing the soprano. The complaint further noted that the Met Opera and Gelb acted with common law malice.

Alongside the complaint, Ulmet filed a letter to Judge Torres, stating that Netrebko “seeks the Court’s leave to file a supplemental complaint in order to defend herself from their [Peter Gelb] ongoing attacks and harassment.”

Netrebko’s lawsuit regarding gender discrimination is still moving forward with Judge Torres citing that the Met treated male Putin-connected opera singers more favorably. That ruling said, “For example, she alleges that the male opera singer Ildar Abdrazakov performed at political events, ‘including at least one event at which Putin … spoke about the war in Ukraine,’ and that Abdrazakov organized a Kremlin-backed music festival.” She added, “She further states that male opera singer Evgeny Nikitin was featured at a Victory Day event involving Putin, and that Igor Golovatenko and Alexey Markov have performed at state-sponsored venues since the invasion of Ukraine.”