THE COLOR PURPLE actress: “homosexuality isn’t right” — Page 3

Miles2Go2 said: "Fetus said: "I wonder if she was genuinely unaware of the LGBT themes in the piece, the film and musical aremore vague onCelie's sexuality which could be missed by someone as ignorant asOmooba appears to be. Someone who locked herself in a room to avoid being seen in a pride video doesn't strike me as one to audition to play a lesbian, but ignorance can often surprise."

I remember seeing the movie in the theater right after it opened. That kiss was pretty shocking for me who as a still closeted young gay manat that point hadn’t really seen any depictions (that I can recall) of same sex attraction. Now it seems pretty tame, but it wasn’t at the time. I don’t think there’s any way this actress didn’t know what she was signing up for.

By the way, whatever controversies and flaws remain with the film, it remains one of my all time favorites.

"

The movie is fantastic, the musical however...aye,aye,aye...

Miles2Go2 said: "I can’t say the musical is one of my favorites, but I’m glad I saw it (the revival) if only for Cynthia Erivo’s performance. I think she got three standing ovations during the show. It doesn’t hurt that I saw it for $30 (Standing Room and was able to move down to a right orchestra seat at intermission)."

She was good, Hudson was terrible.

Miles2Go2 said: "Fetus said: "I wonder if she was genuinely unaware of the LGBT themes in the piece, the film and musical aremore vague onCelie's sexuality which could be missed by someone as ignorant asOmooba appears to be. Someone who locked herself in a room to avoid being seen in a pride video doesn't strike me as one to audition to play a lesbian, but ignorance can often surprise."

I remember seeing the movie in the theater right after it opened. That kiss was pretty shocking for me who as a still closeted young gay manat that point hadn’t really seen any depictions (that I can recall) of same sex attraction. Now it seems pretty tame, but it wasn’t at the time. I don’t think there’s any way this actress didn’t know what she was signing up for.

By the way, whatever controversies and flaws remain with the film, it remains one of my all time favorites.

"

Fair point, the movie was before my time so I wasn't aware of the original reactions, just Alice Walker having a somewhat difficult relationship with Spielberg for glossing over many elements she wanted included. It's a phenomenal film and Whoopi's performance was robbed of an Oscar, but the book is a completely elevated experience that I cannot recommend enough.

As for the stage production I missed the original production and only knew it from the cast album, but after seeing the revival back in 2016 Erivo and Headley's performances have stayed with me since (I consider myself lucky missing Hudson by a week from what I've heard). The book's admittedly bad, but the score invokes themes that were neglected in the film in a beautiful way.

Miles2Go2 said: "I agree that Goldberg was deserving of winning for her portrayal of Celie. And yes, the book is great."

Whoopi's Oscar for GHOST wasn't actually for GHOST it was for her role in COLOR PURPLE.

That would not surprise me. I absolutely think she would have legal grounds to claim religious discrimination. Believe me, I detest religion more than ANYONE on this forum - I guarantee it. However, we have decided to privilege and protect harmful and false religious beliefs by LAW. She is simply expressing her religious beliefs, and if she gets fired because of it the company will likely be breaking the law. I would hope she would acknowledge that she is just not right for this company and production, and resign. On the other hand, I hate to say "I told you so" about how harmful religion can be, but in many ways I do hope she takes legal action if fired to expose how absurd our current societal attitudes towards religion are. Why is homosexuality one of the few human characteristics where it can be socially acceptable to express negative attitudes towards under the guise of religion? This lawsuit would hopefully open a national conversation about whether we should be privileging religious attitudes and beliefs as much as we do. It's 2019 and we can protect our false and harmful attitudes because they are grounded in fairly tales? Madness.

Updated On: 3/19/19 at 05:53 AM

Plannietink08 said: "Miles2Go2 said: "I agree that Goldberg was deserving of winning for her portrayal of Celie. And yes, the book is great."

Whoopi's Oscar for GHOST wasn't actually for GHOST it was for her role in COLOR PURPLE."

That very well could be, but I loved her in Ghost too!

I will say I’m friends with flight attendants who have had to choose to either delete their social media accounts or to change their profile/user names to something other than their real names. Not because they did anything wrong, but because those were the rules of their employment. The airlines don’t want their employees’ statements and behavior on social media to offend anyone and reflect badly on them. Not sure what the laws are like in the UK and what her contract states. That will ultimately determine what consequences she faces. By the way, how old was her tweet? Has she issued any kind of statement since this came to light? This all reminds me of the Kevin Hart situation. I have not one bit of sympathy for that man. He said and tweeted vile things years ago but then when asked later why he stopped, he said because people are too sensitive. Then when he was confronted again with this more recently, he said he had already apologized many times over the years (he had not) then he finally issued an apology then went back into defensive victim-mode again. As far as this actress, it doesn’t sound like she is backing down from her anti-LGBT statements at all. My guess is this controversy will not help the box office.

Updated On: 3/19/19 at 08:52 AM

Dave28282 said:

I could also see this escalating even more, for example other actors walking out if she stays, or cancelling the whole production...."

I don't know how true it is but I have heard that a few members of the company have threatened to walk if she isn't let go. There's some pretty high profile people in the industry asking for her to be let go as well. If it's taking this long for the theater to act then she's definitely giving them a headache.

I am worried this is going to cause another Great Comet situation. I'd hate to see so many performers and creatives out of a job because of one person. If she had any sort of respect she would gracefully step down because it should be obvious that one way or another she isn't going to stand on that stage as Celie.

kdogg36 said: "dramamama611 said: "She IS entitled to her beliefs, no matter how repugnant they may be. I just can't understand her willingness to play the role."

Do you mean to say that she's entitled to publicly express repugnant beliefs without any consequences regarding her employment? I would certainly disagree with that. People are entitled to say pretty much whatever they wantwithout fear of punishment from the government, but they are not entitled to protection from natural consequences brought on by other individuals making their own decisions about who to associate with. And a repugnant belief doesn't become less repugnant because it's "religious."

"

I didn't say that at all. I wouldn't want to work with her at all, and I would be in full support of her being fired. If she creates a lawsuit, I still think they would win as her presence would certainly create a negative working relationship with everyone else. HOWEVER: if only knowing this about her is causing the problem, I don't think they have a legal leg to stand on, if she doesn't bring it into the rehearsal room. (Not saying that she would be able to do so, however.)

Is the law in the UK about free speech the same in the UK?

kdogg36 said: "Do you mean to say that she's entitled to publicly express repugnant beliefs without any consequences regarding her employment? "

Yes. ...with the caveat that she is not violating any regulation that's contractually placed on her. As I wrote earlier, "denying employment based solely on what a person believes is a slippery slope that could be used against anyone; including those whose views one agrees with."

"Repugnant" is in the eye of the beholder. Although I do not agree with her religious belief in this matter, I feel that she is entitled to her beliefs.

She chose to accept the role of a character that (per her tweets) is in opposition to her religious beliefs. In spite of the speculations (and I don't see anything in this thread that indicates fact regarding lawsuits - yet). Because of that, it remains to be seen how she will conduct herself within the company, and how she will perform the role.

An actor does not have to BE the role in real life. There are many examples of actors who can convincingly portray a role that doesn't reflect any aspect of their true personality in the real world.

Most of this thread is reactions that could be distilled down to the implication, "I don't like her religious belief regarding homosexuality, so she should not be employed". I find that attitude to be a dangerous and slippery slope.

It still remains to be seen how she will perform the role, and how she will conduct herself within the company, and with those that hired her (keeping in mind that at the time she was cast, it seems apparent that NO ONE saw any sign that she might be problematic).

Dallas Theatre Fan said: "She will probably be bought out of her contract. This production is going to be tarnished by this scandal and I have no idea if it will able to recover. Plus, the actress might be blacklisted for a while from the West End."

I agree. I think they will buy her out, too. She’d be smart to issue an apology to the gay community for her tweet along with stating how she’s changed, grown, etc., and might be able to salvage her career. The fact that she took the role of Celie establishes that she cares more about her career than the courage of her convictions, so it would make sense if that’s how this plays out. If she’s defiant and British Equity stands by her side, things will get ugly.