• partial_accumen
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    1973 months ago

    “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 it’s right,” Omooba wrote in the post. “I do believe that everyone sins and falls into temptation but it’s by the asking of forgiveness, repentance and the grace of God that we overcome and live how God ordained us to, which is that a man should leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh.”

    Hmm, being homophobic and trying to have a career in theater. Thats a bold move, lets see how it pays off.

    After hearing testimony in 2021 that Omooba had previously told her agents that she refused to play gay roles and had not bothered to read the script for the musical version of The Color Purple before accepting the role, an employment tribunal dismissed the actor’s religious discrimination claim, The Telegraph reported.

    How can you not even read the script, the book its based on, or even at the least watch the Hollywood movie for a part you’re trying to land in an acting performance?

    “I have long forgiven all those who have sought to ruin my theatre career,” Omooba said in a statement following the ruling, “but the theatre world needs to be told, loud and clear, that canceling people for their Christian beliefs is illegal and wrong.”

    Doesn’t look like it turned out well for her.

    • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)
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      803 months ago

      As someone of color, I wonder if she would agree with the KKK discriminating against her, as they also consider themselves “Christians” spreading hate against people over things they do not control.

      • @TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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        413 months ago

        Yeap, a lot of slavery in America was perpetuated and validated by religious beliefs. Plantation owners believed that black people were cursed by the mark of ham, and thus were entitled by an act of God to enslave people.

        • @Dasus@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Also, the Bible literally says: “but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence” 1 Timothy 2:12

          So according to Christian dogma, SHE wouldn’t be allowed to speak up against men, even if they are breaking some other rules, or try to teach the theatre world anything.

          But it’s a fair bet saying she’s never opened a bible in her life, seeing she can’t be bothered to even check out what the story is about when applying for roles.

          Edit I realised this might read quite neutral, so I’m adding a fuck monotheism here just to make my view on the matter clear

        • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          83 months ago

          Yeap, a lot of slavery in America was perpetuated and validated by religious beliefs

          Goes even beyond that. Christianity - specifically, the New Testament verses that extolled the virtue of earthly toil on behalf of a secular lord in exchange for heavenly reward - was leveraged to convince the slaves themselves that their lot in life was justified. And for a great long period of time, it was successful. Even after the Confederacy’s back was broken, mobilizing a population that had been wiped into submission for centuries was legitimately difficult. The Freedman’s Bureau had a herculean effort put at its feet - to engage, re-educate, and empower millions of newly emancipated black men and women after a lifetime of debasement and degradation.

          When you get into why Reconstruction failed, a big part of it was like looking at a spouse in an abusive relationship trying to get out from under a hyper-domineering partner and scaling that sociological problem up to the scale of whole cities and states.

          • @TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
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            113 months ago

            When you get into why Reconstruction failed, a big part of it was like looking at a spouse in an abusive relationship trying to get out from under a hyper-domineering partner and scaling that sociological problem up to the scale of whole cities and states.

            I mean that, but also Andrew Johnson was a horrible person and even a worse president

    • @Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Not just theater but musical theater the absolute stronghold of the LGBTQIA+… Yeah let’s just talk openly about how I believe the vast majority of my coworkers and peers (who probably have backgrounds of religious trauma) are morally defunct and how their ability to feel loved and supported shouldn’t be considered protected by society!

      I want to grab her by the shoulders and say : For fuck sake honey. No one in your field wanting to touch you with a 9 ft pole isn’t their fault. Having someone openly homophobic in a role where getting the gold star of casting has been for the past several years meant actually choosing someone who has actual experience in a similar identity to what they are potraying… It would be suicide for a production. People are going to look to a queer character to project themselves in those situations. Knowing you’re just a bigot doing it for self agrandizement, accolades and cash is going to cause fucking boycotts from the very target audience of the show!

      Spilling your theocratic dirty laundry on twatter because you can’t hold it in can be a “career limiting move” and that’s just normal in a pluralistic society.

      • @Dkarma@lemmy.world
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        253 months ago

        Concrete proof that these people simply don’t live in reality.

        She thinks this is oppression.

        • @Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world
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          13 months ago

          Oh they live in reality. When reality bites them they feel it. For the most part I respect belief. These people legitimately believe that there is a power which will inevitably maliciously destroy us and that to save other people they must be discouraged in any earthly way possible. They believe that to be a noble thing because the foundation comes from a rock solid belief in the divine and honestly there’s not much you can do to shake that belief so what they are doing makes sense from that perspective.

          The issue with that being around people with that belief who act on it as though it’s their job to dissuade people from what they perceive as that particular danger is miserable. Like okay, you believe that we’re gunna burn do so quietly because LGBTQIA folk aren’t going to change because even if you believe in God with those tenants it’s really hard to believe he is actually benevolent. Most of the LGBTQIA Christians who believe that God hates the only terms under which they can be happy end up killing themselves. That’s part of why conversion therapy is considered a human rights issue.

            • @Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world
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              13 months ago

              Alright, so what? What good does treating them petulantly do? If you cannot treat them in a way where they feel understood and cared for they don’t change. If you treat someone poorly or like you are superior they are more likely to double down on their belief and spit in your face. Unless your aim is to bash their faces in and straight up use force you have to see the human in them to get started reversing the programing because a lot of religions preach that unbelievers are evil and the first step in any questioning of the whole is to show that no… You aren’t evil. You are moral and kind actually.

              What’s the end goal of disrespect? To be rude to them for fun?

              • @richieadler@lemmy.myserv.one
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                13 months ago

                If you treat someone poorly or like you are superior they are more likely to double down on their belief and spit in your face.

                They’re prone to do that anyway.

                you have to see the human in them to get started reversing the programing

                Why do you say “I have to”, like is my obligation and my work to deprogram religious nuts?

                • @Drivebyhaiku@lemmy.world
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                  13 months ago

                  You don’t have to. Only if you want to try and stop them from being religious nuts that’s where you start.

                  It’s not your job to interact with them so don’t. If they are actively causing you pain where you are you have a right to defend yourself to get them to stop but like any violence there is a line where you cross from self defence to just taking out your anger and trauma on someone else to make yourself feel better. People who do that make the job harder for those of us who want to stop religious trauma from perpetuating.

                  Respecting religious belief is part of the healing process of religious trauma. It doesn’t mean subscribing to belief in religion. It means seeing the actual human beings inside the system that hurt you.

    • magnetosphere
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      3 months ago

      That’s what I have trouble understanding - not even reading the script. Apparently she counted on her agents to “filter” things for her. Sounds highly unprofessional.

        • magnetosphere
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          In the case of a good, reputable agent who makes you their top priority, it can be. In other cases, if the agent sees a role for a black woman in her 30s(?) who can sing, that’s good enough. Unusual, specific demands/requirements could slip through the cracks. They pass the script along, expecting her to at least skim the damn thing, and leave the final decision up to her.

    • @Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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      383 months ago

      Hmm, being homophobic and trying to have a career in theater. Thats a bold move, lets see how it pays off.

      I laughed so loudly as this comment, my kids came to check in on me.

    • @Kindness@lemmy.ml
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      93 months ago

      I’ve gotten too used to people intentionally misspelling a certain person’s name. ‘Omooba’ threw me for a loop.

      “I have long forgiven all those who have sought to ruin my theatre career,”

      It would be beneficial for her to realise long and deep self-reflection is a virtue.

    • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Thats a bold move, lets see how it pays off.

      The Daily Caller is always hiring.

      How can you not even read the script, the book its based on, or even at the least watch the Hollywood movie for a part you’re trying to land in an acting performance?

      More curious how she got hired on those terms. It seems like a simple line reading might have clued everyone involved in on what this story was about.

    • SteefLem
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      73 months ago

      So you cant cancel people for their christian believe. But apparently you can cancel people for well everything else? Woman is mad.

      • TurtleJoe
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        43 months ago

        TBF, the supreme Court has mostly agreed with her in multiple cases.

    • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      643 months ago

      Discrimination against ME is bad.

      Discrimination against YOU GODLESS HEATHENS is good aktuly.

      Besides, something something mumble mumble black liberation had its roots in religious movements something something mumble mumble don’t ask what white slavery had its roots in though.

  • I Cast Fist
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    623 months ago

    People really need to learn that “freedom of expression” is not the same as free from consequences. Otherwise, defamation wouldn’t be a crime, for instance.

    • @fidodo@lemmy.world
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      123 months ago

      This case has nothing to do with freedom of speech. She was suing a private theater on the grounds of religious discrimination which is a law, not a right. She was denied because she wasn’t discriminated against based on her religion, but rather was fired because her specific expression impacted her job. She would have been fired no matter what religion she was a part of which is why it wasn’t religious discrimination

      • @UPGRAYEDD@lemmy.world
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        23 months ago

        Thanks for the explanation. The title makes it sound like she was going to jail for anti lgbt comments.

      • JackGreenEarth
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        43 months ago

        We seemingly don’t, and that is bad thing. People should be allowed to say whatever they like, or democracy doesn’t work. What does it matter if you can vote for whoever you want, if you can’t even vocalise an opinion that the majority disagree with? I disagree fundamentally with this woman’s opinion, but that doesn’t mean she should be banned from saying it - if we disagree with it, we should disincentivise others from believing it by arguing against it, not hiding the opinion.

        • @turmacar@lemmy.world
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          She wasn’t banned from saying it, she was fired for refusing to do the job she was hired to do.

          If you hire a butcher and they refuse to work on / around / in the vicinity of pork because of their religious beliefs, you are not firing them because of their religion. You’re firing them because they’re not a fit for the job they were hired for.

          Demanding the script change because she has a problem with LGBT+ and being let go isn’t being “cancelled”, it’s demanding the entire production bend to your personal beliefs and being told “no”.

          • JackGreenEarth
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            23 months ago

            You’re right, she shouldn’t have signed up for that job. I wasn’t talking about her case in particular, but rather the larger phenomenon of people being banned for having opposing beliefs, particularly in online places where you can talk (forums, social media, etc)

            • BlanketsWithSmallpox
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              63 months ago

              Private entities are not the government.

              If the government owned a version of Twitter, sure. Until then, good luck lol.

              For the same reason I can tell you to get the fuck off my property. Doesn’t mean you can murder, but it’s mine. You don’t get to plant flaming crosses on it unless it’s upside down with a statue of Baphoment. Because then you’d have my permission.

              • JackGreenEarth
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                23 months ago

                There’s a difference between a small web forum with 3 users though, and something like Twitter, which is a gatekeeper and thus must be held to higher standards.

                • BlanketsWithSmallpox
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                  33 months ago

                  Legally? No, there isn’t.

                  ISPs aren’t even nationalized. Let alone private websites.

                  Also there should literally be no such term as higher standards. Standards should be equal.

        • @Holyginz@lemmy.world
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          53 months ago

          But you are missing the point here. She wasn’t told she couldn’t comment or make those statements. She made those statements when her role was a gay character for a musical that she never read the script for, any of the literature or looked at any other productions of. She also had stated that she didn’t want any gay roles. She would have completely ruined the production as well as caused a massive backlash against the theater when her views were discovered by the target audience. This isn’t a freedom of speech situation, she wanted to say whatever she wanted without consequences and that doesn’t exist unless you are extremely wealthy.

      • @yarr@feddit.nl
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        23 months ago

        You absolutely do, you just don’t have freedom from consequences. Go stand in front of the White House and shout about how being gay is a sin – this is not a crime. However, don’t be surprised if you gather nasty looks or people arguing with you.

    • @RealFknNito@lemmy.world
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      13 months ago

      Right, but a court ruling she can’t make those comments seems like violating that whole first amendment thing.

      I’d get losing her job, public outcry, the social consequences but it’s strange to me to see legal consequences in the form of a court ruling. Thought that was a pretty clear line.

      • @fidodo@lemmy.world
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        83 months ago

        Did you read the article at all? Because the court did no such thing and that wasn’t even the question at hand. The only thing she lost was her attempt to sue the theater for firing her because she made homophobic comments after accepting a role to play a gay character for a script she didn’t read.

        • @RealFknNito@lemmy.world
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          63 months ago

          The headline and the snippets I read failed to mention that, I mostly got caught up in her fucking biography apparently.

          Then yes, the court ruling is in the right.

  • @misspacific
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    443 months ago

    on this episode of “My Sincerely Held Belief Takes Precedence Over Everything” we once again attempt to claim that any consequences for my anti-social behavior is a direct attack on myself and my religion.

    • @BossDj@lemm.ee
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      93 months ago

      But my religion says I have to hate people and tell them they’re going to Hell.

      “All those who have sought to end my career.” So entitled.

      She refused to play a gay role, but when she was found out she’d signed up for a gay role, she didn’t quit, just go all persecuted when she was fired from the gay role that she refused?

    • @whotookkarl@lemmy.world
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      23 months ago

      My religious dogma says it’s good to be a bigot against shitty bigots who target marginalized and minority groups for their hate. It also guarantees salvation at death or triple your money back.

    • @JadenSmith@sh.itjust.works
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      23 months ago

      I’m just surprised to know there is a straight actor in theatre. It’s like finding a Shiny Pokémon or something, surely.

  • @3volver@lemmy.world
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    303 months ago

    They will probably believe they’re being discriminated against while being the one who is discriminating against others. Typical flawed world view.

    • @Tangentism@lemmy.ml
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      Her comment at the end of the article confirms that she’s in deep with the persecution fetish

      “but the theatre world needs to be told, loud and clear, that canceling people for their Christian beliefs is illegal and wrong.”

      • @Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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        93 months ago

        Odd, I don’t remember christ demanding the ability to say hateful things to people. But I bailed on the religion over a decade ago, so who knows what new things they’ve found that Jesus said now.

  • @EdibleFriend@lemmy.world
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    263 months ago

    lol this bitch didn’t just get fired from a job for saying homophobic shit…SHE TOOK A ROLE PLAYING A GAY CHARACTER!

    She didn’t read the script. Found out later she played a gay character. Why didn’t she just quit?

  • @protist@mander.xyz
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    203 months ago

    “Defending her right to make anti-LGBTQ+ comments” is a strange way to frame this by a pro-LGBTQ source. No one here is saying she doesn’t have a right to say these things, they’re saying she doesn’t have a right to stay employed at this job after saying these things and refusing to work with her employer to manage public perception

  • @blazera@lemmy.world
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    173 months ago

    she’s not defending her rights, she’s challenging the rights of studios to choose who they work with.

  • @yarr@feddit.nl
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    163 months ago

    She always had the right to express her ideas… she just didn’t have the right to be free from the consequences of doing so. I also enjoy the tension of “I follow everything the Bible says” / “I’m not homophobic”

  • magnetosphere
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    93 months ago

    Before appealing, she should take into account whether she can afford to pay more legal costs if (when) she loses again.

    • @cmbabul@lemmy.world
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      So I’ll try to explain this from my upbringing which was extremely Christian and conservative, they all need every part of their lives to be a constant affirmation and validation of their faith because reality makes believing it literally really difficult. Gay people especially are a very visible reminder of one of the inconsistencies in the belief system because if God is perfect, all powerful, infinitely merciful, and says he loves us and wants to save us from our sin then how can anyone be born LGBTQ when his book calls them abominations. He can’t make mistakes so he must have wanted them to be abominations, but he loves everyone. This obvious paradox is seen as an attack and persecution, which is something their faith has taught them to expect as a Christian.

      I’m happily agree that it’s a lot more complicated than that, but that to me is the heart of the matter and can be extrapolated to many of the other things they want and why they refuse to relent. Because if Christianity is the one correct way to live life anyone living a happy life outside of what it prescribes or can’t be happy within those boundaries is an affront to their faiths foundational principles.