Actorâs homophobia made her commercially toxic, tribunal told
Seyi Omooba is suing Leicester theatre and talent agency after being sacked for Facebook post on homosexualitywww.theguardian.com
I really dont understand why she is suing the theatre. I do suspect that some fundie group is financing this.
Tommys view -- She should take her backward beliefs and fuck off back under a rock.
A sacked actor who would have refused to play the role in which she had been cast as a lesbian because it was against her Christian beliefs made herself “commercially toxic” and her continued employment would have forced the show’s cancellation, a tribunal has heard.
Seyi Omooba was due to play Celie in a production of The Color Purple at the Curve theatre, Leicester, but was removed from the show in March 2019 after the emergence of a Facebook post from 2014 in which she said homosexuality was not “right”.
Omooba, who is suing the Curve and her former agency Global Artists for breach of contract and religious discrimination, also said in the post that people could not be born gay.
The tribunal, which started last week, heard that Omooba had a “secret red line” about not being willing to play a gay character, which put her on a collision course with the theatre.
Omooba said she had not read the script in full before accepting the role, and had not asked the director or producers whether they intended Celie to be played as a lesbian in the production.
Tom Coghlin QC, representing Leicester Theatre Trust, described that as “unbelievably unprofessional” and suggested Omooba’s conduct would have left the theatre “high and dry” and without a key performer as opening night approached.
continued