THE COLOR PURPLE Actress Drops Legal Action Against Producer After Being Fired for 'Homophobic' Views

As BroadwayWorld reported in September, actress Oluwaseyi (Seyi) Omooba was removed from Leicester Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome's revival of musical The Color Purple after West End Hamilton actor Aaron Lee Lambert shared a screenshot of her 2014 Facebook post. The post quickly went viral, resulting in a social media outcry with many calling the actress homophobic.

In the post, Omooba said she did not believe people could be "born gay", and described homosexuality as a sin - "legal" but not "right". Lambert questioned how she could possibly star as Celie in this important LBGTQ+ work while holding such views.

Omooba, supported by the Christian Legal Centre, took legal action against co-producers Birmingham Hippodrome and Leicester Curve, claiming to be a victim of religious discrimination. Now, according to the Stage, the actress has dropped action against the former, after "mutually satisfactory" terms were reached.

A Christian Concern rep told The Stage: "Leicester Curve has now accepted primary responsibility for the decision, and Miss Omooba is pursuing the claim against that theatre. Since it has transpired that Birmingham Hippodrome only played a minor role in those events, we have been able to negotiate mutually satisfactory terms of settlement with that theatre."

Omooba says she is not "homophobic", claiming she was just quoting "what the Bible says about homosexuality" and "the need for repentance, but ultimately God's love for all humanity". She stands by her words, but says if she'd known "it would come to this", she would have set her Facebook account to privacy mode.