Opera singer Valerian Ruminski [pictured below] does not like men decorating their nails. He dislikes it so much, in fact, that he took to Facebook to complain – at length – after encountering a man on the OC Transpo bus who had long, jewel-studded nails. Said Ruminski, in part:

Look at the stupid nails this moron had on while taking a bus in Ottawa. I guess he needs diamond-studded nails to make up for his face.
[H]e is asking for criticism by parading his choices in front of everyone. Like the black males who wear their pants down off their asses. They WANT you to notice it and get angered by it. Thats [sic] part of the strategy. He has an agenda by gluing diamonds onto his nails…and so do I by commenting on how stupid it is!

It would seem Ruminski wasn’t aware that things posted on Facebook are not private. Even with privacy settings maxed out, all it takes is one friend or follower to screencap a post and then it’s out in the wild, which is exactly what happened. Karma was quick and Ruminski was fired from his role in Puccini’s Tosca to start this fall.

Opera Lyra general director Jeep Jeffries said that he was “disappointed and appalled, to be honest,” in an interview on CBC Radio’s All in a Day. For his part, Ruminski has posted a lengthy public apology to his website, complete with the “I’ve had gay teachers and friends” line and an attempt at identifying with the total stranger he tried to publicly humiliate:

I didn’t take the time to pause and think and consider that we are all special and that this person was different in a way that was unique to everyone else around us. I am an opera singer. He, as I learned, is a drag queen. The two of us are not too far apart, I guess.

No, Ruminksi, you and drag queens are actually quite far apart. Drag queens, for example, actually know how to read.

You can see a video report of the incident AFTER THE JUMP…

[photo via Facebook]