The Homophobic Seyi Omooba has been dropped from the upcoming production of ‘The Color Purple’

Following a controversy over a homophobic 2014 Facebook post, producers have dropped actress Seyi Omooba from an upcoming UK production of The Color Purple, in which she would have played a bisexual character.

Omooba came under fire last weekend for a resurfaced social media post she made in 2014 after it was announced that she’d landed the lead role of Celie in the upcoming Curve Leicester and Birmingham Hippodrome production of the musical. The controversy began after Hamilton star, Aaron Lee Lambert, tweeted out a screenshot of the post where the actress called out homosexuality as immoral. She also claimed that people are not born gay, and seemed to imply that Christian faith can “cure” same-sex attraction. The Color Purple is widely considered a seminal work of queer literature, as it concerns an abused wife named Celie who undergoes a transformation after falling in love with another woman. Naturally, the revelation of Omooba’s post sparked an immediate backlash over the casting a homophobe in an LGBTQ role.

The production of The Color Purple would have seen Omooba perform at the UK venues The Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome. Now spokespeople for both venues – Chris Stafford and Nikolai Foster from the Curve and Fiona Allan on behalf of Birmingham Hippodrome – have released a statement explaining that Omooba’s role will be recast.

‘On Friday 15 March, a social media post dating from 2014, which was written by The Color Purple cast member Seyi Omooba, was re-posted on Twitter,’ they wrote. ‘The comments made by Seyi in that post have caused significant and widely expressed concerns both on social media and in the wider press.’

The statement continued, announcing Omooba’s departure from the show: ‘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 announcement has been made as to who will replace Omooba in the role.