Christian actor Seyi Omooba, who was fired for “homophobic” comments made on Facebook, says she plans to sue a theater and her former agent for religious discrimination.
Omooba was fired from a starring role as Celie in the U.K. production of “The Color Purple”, a stage adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel set to run in Birmingham and Leicester, after a Facebook post she wrote in September 2014 resurfaced.
In the post, Omooba referenced what the bible says about homosexuality and asked Christians to “tell the truth”, the Independent reported.
“It is clearly evident in I Corinthians vi, 9-11 what the Bible says on this matter. I do not believe you can be born gay, and I do not believe homosexual practice is right,” she wrote, adding that Christians “have began to twist the word of God” to make homosexuality acceptable.
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Hamilton star Aaron Lee Lambert, who exposed the post, asked Omooba in a tweet if she still stood by her old post and asked her to apologize to her LGBTQ fans.
“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,” Lambert tweeted.
Omooba said her agents also asked her to apologize but she refused, saying her character Celie was not lesbian.
She rejected an offer of full wages for the role from the theatre to avoid a lawsuit, preferring to take the matter to the labor tribunal, the Christian Legal Centre said.
