The furore in New Zealand over Dame Kiri te Kanawa‘s apparent criticism of Kiwi popera divette Hayley Westenra may now be on a downward slope after peaking earlier this weekend.

On Saturday night Dame Kiri phoned in to a radio talk show to try to clarify her remarks. Perhaps the most interesting detail is te Kanawa’s insistence that she used the word “fake” as term of art and not a value judgment about the younger singer. Meanwhile Westenra refuses to comment, so it looks like the catfight is a non-starter.