New Zealand opera star Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, who is sufficiently famous that even I have heard of her, won a lawsuit this week that had been filed against her by an Australian rock singer, John Farnham.  Arrangements had been made for the two to perform together in a series of concerts, which is odd enough to begin with, but Dame Kiri pulled out of the deal in 2005 after watching a DVD of one of Farnham’s prior performances and noting that female fans tended to throw their underwear at Farnham.

Dame Kiri said she was embarrassed by the panty-throwing and was concerned that this would occur at their joint performances.  This would be "disrespectful" to her, she said.  One is not to doff one’s undergarments in the presence of a Dame, let alone to project said undergarments in a public manner.  Also, Farnham has apparently stated that he keeps the underwear thrown at him, and Dame Kiri said she found it offensive that Farnham collects the items as "some sort of trophy."

The promoter of the planned concerts sued for breach of contract, but Judge Patricia Bergin ruled on Wednesday that the promoter had not proven its case.  The article did not report whether the offending DVD was part of the court record, or whether any opera fans threw their underpants at Judge Bergin after the ruling.

Link: Reuters via Yahoo! News