While two U.S. opera houses immediately canceled performances by famed tenor Placido Domingo following sexual harassment allegations, European opera houses are taking stances ranging from supportive to wait-and-see.

The Philadelphia Orchestra and San Francisco Opera immediately announced they would cancel upcoming performances featuring the star and the Los Angeles Opera opened an investigation following an Associated Press story in which numerous women accused the opera legend of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior spanning decades.

In Europe, there were no immediate cancellations of the 78-year-old Domingo's performances and even some words of support for the star. Opera world officials noted that no charges had been brought against Domingo and no formal judicial investigations were underway that might provide legal underpinning to cancel any contractual obligations.

The stark differences in the levels of urgency in the responses underline the differences in the footing of the #MeToo movement on both sides of the Atlantic.

Opera houses in the United States might consider the possibility of damaging protests outside their venues if they maintained the scheduled performances. But, in Europe Domingo’s status as one of the most popular and influential figures in the opera world could trigger a backlash against venues if performances were canceled without due process, said one opera official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of lack of authorization to discuss personnel matters.

"Some attitudes, seen in hindsight, risk being misunderstood," cultural journalist Leonetta Bentivoglio wrote on Wednesday in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. "That he was a Don Juan was something everyone knew and in the promiscuous theater world he is not alone. We must add that his charm has always attracted a crowd of women and often it was he who had to defend himself."

Bentivoglio recalled an incident at a Paris hotel during Domingo's "Three Tenors" heyday with Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras, when he asked journalists to pretend to accompany him in the elevator "to escape to his room without being followed by some beautiful young women," who were in pursuit.

"These are difficult stories to tell in the slippery era of #MeToo," she wrote.

Nineteen of the singer's 24 engagements through November 2020 are on European stages, according to his website. Upcoming performances in Salzburg, Milan, London, Zurich, Cologne, Hamburg and Geneva were still on but some venues said they would monitor the investigation in Los Angeles, where Domingo has been general director since 2003 and previously was artistic director. Other venues postponed comment, citing the summer holiday.

Domingo received support from the Salzburg Festival in Austria, his next scheduled performance on August 31, as well as from some singers who have shared the stage with him.

Salzburg Festival president Helga Rabl-Stadler, who said she has known Domingo for 25 years and has long appreciated both his "artistic competence" and "appreciative treatment of all festival employees," said "it would be factually wrong and morally irresponsible to make irreversible judgments at this point."