Christian actress Seyi Omooba, who was dismissed from production due to her 2014 remarks on Facebook concerning homosexuality, must pay £300,000 in legal fees after losing a five-year discrimination battle.
Omooba, 29, was relieved of her role as Celie, a lesbian character, in a 2019 rendition of the play.
On 18th September 2014, when she was 20, she said: "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.
"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."
Mr Lambert said: “Do you still stand by this post? Or are you happy to remain a hypocrite? Seeing as you’ve now been announced to be playing an LGBTQ character, I think you owe your LGBTQ peers an explanation. Immediately.”
Omooba was invited by the theatre to renounce her post, but she refused, and her appearance was cancelled.
She took the theatre and her former agents to an employment tribunal, claiming that she was the victim of religious discrimination. However, her case was thrown out after she admitted that she had not read the script before accepting the lead role.
She claimed she did not know realise the character was gay and would not have gone through with appearing in the play if she had.
The actress appealed the tribunal's decision, including its ruling that she must pay more than £300,000 in legal costs.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal heard Omooba grew up in a committed Christian family of Nigerian origin.
She asserted that had she known the character's sexual orientation, she would not have agreed to participate.
She had previously informed her agent of her religious beliefs, declining roles like that in the Book of Mormon due to its portrayal of Christianity.
Despite initiating legal proceedings with the support of Christian Concern, Omooba's admission that she wouldn't have accepted the role, had she read the script dismantled her case, leading to its dismissal and the obligation to cover all legal expenses.