By Beatriz Abreu Ferreira
The Curve theatre has announced that the actress Seyi Omooba will be leaving The Colour Purple show after online outrage related to a homophobic post from 2014 that recently surfaced on Twitter.
Seyi Omooba was playing a LGBTQ character in the show which will be performed at The Curve and the Birmingham Hippodrome.
Both theatres have expressed on their Twitter page that the views shared in her post do not reflect the views of the venues.
The post, in which the actress expressed that she did not believe that “homosexuality is right” or that “you can be born gay”, was recently shared on Twitter by Aaron Lee Lambert who is part of the Hamilton West End musical.
He wrote: “Do you still stand by this post? Or are you happy to remain a hypocrite?”
@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 (he/him) (@aleelambert) March 15, 2019
In a press release, the Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome stated that the decision was supported by the Authors and the Theatrical Rights Worldwide.
Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome statement regarding The Color Purple pic.twitter.com/32J8whGQYu
— Curve (@CurveLeicester) March 21, 2019
The actress has not yet commented on this decision or the online criticism.
However, some people have argued that Omooba should not be punished based on an old post which may not reflect her present views.
Gabriel Alves, student at the University of Westminster, said: “It’s unfair because it’s old, I hope that her perspective has changed since then…”
