Seyi Omooba has been removed from the forthcoming tour of The Color Purple following a storm over homophobic remarks posted on Twitter.
Following last week’s casting notice for the tour of The Color Purple, a Twitter storm has been building over the casting of Seyi Omooba in the role of Celie following the discovery of homophobic Tweets by the actress.
Many considered the remarks hypocrisy especially considering the nature of Celie’s story which includes a romantic and sexual relationship with a woman Shug Avery.
The Producers issued the following statement:
On Friday 15 March a social media post dating from 2014, which was written by the The Color Purple cast member Seyi Omooba, was re-posted on Twitter. The comments made by Seyi in that post have caused significant and widely expressed concerns both on social media and in the wider press.
Following careful reflection it has been decided that Seyi will no longer be involved with the production. This decision was supported by the Authors and Theatrical Rights Worldwide.
The audition process, as ever, was conducted professionally and rigorously, led by an exceptional casting director with actors who are evaluated on what they present in the audition room. We do not operate a social media screening process in the casting of actors.
No further comment will be made at this time.
Chris Stafford and Nikolai Foster on behalf of Curve and Fiona Allan on behalf of Birmingham Hippodrome
