Actress Oluwaseyi Omooba was recently cast as Celie in Leicester’s Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome’s co-production of the hit Broadway musical of The Color Purple.
Birmingham Hippodrome is the UK’s most popular single auditorium theaters that attracts over half a million visitors each year.
But shortly after the announcement was made, Omooba came under fire for a hateful Facebook post she wrote in 2014 calling homosexuality unnatural and wrong.
The post was shared by Hamilton actor Aaron Lee Lambert, who tweeted: “@Seyiomooba Do you still stand by this post? Or are you happy to remain a hypocrite?”
“Seeing as you’ve now been announced to be playing an LGBTQ character,” he added, “I think you owe your LGBTQ peers an explanation. Immediately.”
@Seyiomooba Do you still stand by this post? Or are you happy to remain a hypocrite? Seeing as you’ve now been announced to be playing an LGBTQ character, I think you owe your LGBTQ peers an explanation. Immediately. pic.twitter.com/GK2xbzZYgy
— Aaron Lee Lambert (@aleelambert) March 15, 2019
Both Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome quickly issued a joint statement in response to the “historic social media post” ensuring theatergoers that they were “looking into the matter” and would release a full response in the near future.
The views expressed in the historic social media post by a member of Curve and @BrumHippodrome’s The Color Purple cast in no way reflect those held by either of our theatres. We will be looking into the matter and will issue a full response in due course.
— Curve (@CurveLeicester) March 16, 2019
Five days later, people are beginning to question when–or if–that response is ever going to come.
You need to be a little bit quicker.
— ???? RobIN ???? (@robinfq) March 18, 2019
Your silence on this matter is deafening. This is not immediate action! While I appreciate this is a difficult & complex situation for you, she should be immediately released from contract. @Seyiomooba has no place playing someone from the LGBT community. None at all. #LGBT
— Craig Davidson StN ??????????????? (@CraigDavidson85) March 19, 2019
FIRE. HER. Celie is in love with another woman! How can Omooba give truth to that?!?!
— Steven (@somedayboy) March 19, 2019
Still waiting for your “statement.” Your silence speaks volumes. Fire her already.
— Nick Ahlers (@Nma814) March 19, 2019
Take a stand @CurveLeicester. @Seyiomooba has had time to respond and clarify what she believes, she has chosen to remain silent. She will let her past hate and continued support for her dangerous father speak for itself. Her silence is deafening and your support speaks volumes. pic.twitter.com/ZHaXcnAPuW
— Brian Francis (@brianfrancis79) March 18, 2019
The fact that it’s been five days and the show’s producers still haven’t figured out how to handle the matter, or even craft a response longer than 140 characters, is definitely not a good look.
Maybe they’re still trying to figure out who to cast in Omooba’s place?
As one Queerty reader on Facebook commented:
Related: Broadway musical star blasts homosexuality as unnatural and “not right”
Rock-N-RollHS
Repellent views, but “repellent views” are not illegal. I do find the twitter mob’s self-righteous role as judge, jury and censor more offensive. As if any of these tweeters were going to see the play anyway. I think audiences should vote with their wallet.
Btw, which one of the sistahs is the bible thumper?? And I hope she does understand the connection between colonialism and slavery and the spread of Christianity.
QueerTruth
Not illegal? No it isn’t.
And neither is the freedom of speech. So we can express own disgust or anger at this homophobe if we want to.
DCguy
Actually that speech is considered hate speech in the U.K. Additionally, since when in a capitalist system does a business NOT have the right to hire and fire people that are bad for their brand?
The fact that you claim to find people’s disgust with bigotry MORE offensive than the bigotry itself tells us all we need to know about you.
Brian
Businesses also have the right not to fire people that are bad for their brand. If they want to take their chances on this not affecting box office, we have no right to demand otherwise. Just because we want opinions like hers to mean automatic termination doesn’t make it so, nor should it ever be so.
Personally, I am beyond tired of the trend of finding gotcha moments from years, or even decades earlier and forcing people to defend them. I would love to see the theater say that they’re not firing her because they believe in free expression. I’m guessing that will never happen though, I’m sure they will cave any day.
DCguy
@Brian
Awww, how adorable, the troll account likes to hide “Hateful bigotry” behind the words “Free Expression”.
Look sweetie we know you, you ALWAYS defend anti-LGBT bigots…always.
Brian
No dear, I defend free speech and anti-censorship. Why am I not surprised that the person who is unable to come up with more than one insult is also unable to understand the difference? It’s really not that complicated.
DCguy
@Brian
No Brian, what you do is ALWAYS defend bigotry. See, I notice you NEVER defend “Free Speech” when it’s anybody LGBT speaking out against discrimination.
But nice try sweetie.
Tombear
Fact: a homophobe will not get very far in the live theater, career-wise, when over 80% of those involved with live theater are gay.
Tombear
Professional live theater that is.
bdwaycas
80%…and you’re pulling that statistic out of which bit of thin air, exactly?
PoetDaddy
I will grant you that although live professional theatre has long been a haven for people of differences of all kinds, and thereby attracting LGBTQ folk, 80 percent of those involved in live theatre are NOT gay. That is an extraordinarily inflated number. Now, 80 percent (or more) might be pro-LGBTQ allies, but that is a different matter.
DCguy
Sounds like the people in the theater may support her bigotry and are hoping the issue fades away if they wait long enough.
RobinSon
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Jussie_Racist_Clown
Is it 1990?
greybat
The producers must be trying to figure out if a potential wrongful termination suit will outweigh the losses incurred by casting a Bigot in a role that is meant to engage the audience’s sympathy.
Vince
and you know she will. I can see racial bias and religious persecution to name a few.
PoetDaddy
The rule about such things are not the same in the UK. This actress might well be guilty of a crime, hate speech, and that might be reason enough to fire her based on her contract. Also, even in the US, actors who are proving detrimental to the success (profitability) of theatrical and cinematic productions are fired all the time for their behavior.
RevJames
DCguy, no it isn’t.
DCguy
What are you responding to?
Kangol
The director ought to make sure the adaptation plays up Celie’s queerness; that’ll drive this homophobe from her intransigence. It is an absurd profession for a homophobe to be in, but then again, she wouldn’t be the first.
Brian
Maybe they can throw in a face sitting scene.
Jussie_Racist_Clown
Joy Reid still has her job. So, I guess we’re losing our clout in terms of getting people fired with outrage. Maybe the amount of outrage required has gotten to be astronomical that we may never have enough. IDK.
Black Pegasus
@Jussie
Black females are allowed to be bigots. There seems to be this untouchable element that shields them from the consequences of their toxicity.
DCguy
Wow, if you are going to troll under a different name at least change the format of it.
jayjay333
So, Omooba can condemn gay people for their mere existence while she is playing a gay character and get away with it? Yet, numerous other public and semi-public figures who have even vaguely uttered racist/anti-Semitic/sexist. etc comments are condemned and put out to pasture?
Not sure what is up w/ this other than the PC brigade afraid of tearing a black chick a new a-hole.
And this woman is playing a gay character? F- her. Go away, and F-off.
Vince
Just replace the minority she attacked. Say she was white saying she didn’t think black people were normal and shouldn’t have the same rights as white people. The theater would’ve canned her the next day. It’s a double standard.
DCguy
See: Biden saying Mike Pence is a “Decent Guy”.
If Pence had been trying to pass laws that said women couldn’t own property, Asians couldn’t marry, Black people couldn’t engage in legal contracts, Biden would have never pushed that B.S. collegiality attitude. But Pence and other Republicans has rabidly attacked LGBTs So media and other folks just blow it off.
truthseeker
My guess is that she’s a minority hire and being that she’s a black woman, they’re afraid to fire her. If it were a white man, or even a white woman, they would more than likely be fired.
The UK currently is more focused on identity politics. Just look at the school that stopped teaching about LGBTQ people in the UK because tons of parents protested and stopped their kids from going to school. The news barely touched on this because the parents who protested were all Muslim migrants. Queerty didn’t even report on it either