What the Seyi Omooba Case Teaches the World about Homophobia, Social Media and the Arts
Seyi Omooba is a Christian actor who has lost an employment tribunal claim that she brought against the Curve Theatre in Leicester and the talent agency Global Artists.
Seyi was due to star in a production of the musical The Color Purple in 2019, but was sacked following the discovery of anti-gay comments she had once made online. Following the dismissal, Seyi sued for religious discrimination as well as breach of contract.
Seyi was originally cast to play Celie, who is widely considered to be a lesbian character, who develops a relationship with a jazz singer by the name of Shug Avery.
Social Media
In a Facebook post in 2014, the actor said that people could not be “born gay” and that she did not believe homosexuality was “right”. It was in 2019 that Hamilton star Aaron Lee Lambert shared a screenshot of the post from 2014.
The Facebook entry was written when the actor was 20 years old. “I do not believe you can be born gay, and I do not believe homosexuality is right, though the law of this land has made it legal doesn’t mean its right.”
The virtual hearing of the Central London Employment Tribunal heard it sparked a social media backlash, the actor was then sacked by Leicester Theatre Trust Ltd six days later after discussions in which Ms Omooba stood by her views.
Her contract with agency Michael Garrett Associates Ltd (Global Artists) was also terminated three days later.
The actor is quoted to later in 2019 say, “I don’t see why what I said was offensive.”
Trial
The tribunal panel rejected Ms Omooba’s claims of discrimination, harassment and breach of contract. The panel also dismissed her suggestion that her firing by the theatre amounted to discrimination against her religious beliefs.
In a written judgement, it concluded it was “the effect of the adverse publicity from [the 2014 post’s] retweet, without modification or explanation, on the cohesion of the cast, the audience’s reception, the reputation of the producers and ‘the good standing and commercial success’ of the production, that were the reasons why she was dismissed”.
On the harassment claim, it said, “In the view of the tribunal Mr Stafford [Chris Stafford, chief executive of Leicester Theatre Trust] did not have the purpose of violating the claimant’s dignity or creating an intimidating or humiliating environment for her. His purpose was to save the production.
Upon the refusal of the compensation the panel commented, “If there is damage to her reputation, it was not caused by being dropped from the production but by an unconnected person’s tweeting… of her Facebook post and the outcry resulting from that.”
The Curve Theatre in Leicester commented, “We now look forward to drawing a line under this painful chapter and focusing our energies on how we rebuild our theatre after the pandemic.”
A Step in the Right Direction
Although this a huge step in the right direction, there is no cause for celebration just yet. It has not been long since the owners of Asher’s Bakery in Belfast won their appeal in the so-called ‘gay cake’ discrimination case.
Although this is a promising and hopeful case that shows that homophobia will hopefully not be tolerated in the arts. Even more importantly this demonstrates that comments made on social media and/or made years previously will be taken into consideration and the authors of those comments will be held accountable.
On with the Show
Since Seyi’s dismissal, it has been announced that T’Shan Williams will play the lead in The Color Purple.
