An actress who was suing the word renowned theatre The Curve in Leicester for religious discrimination, harassment and breach of contract has had her case thrown out by an employment tribunal.

Seyi Omooba was hired to play the part of Celie in The Color Purple, a role that made Whoopi Goldberg a household name in the astonishing Steven Spielberg film adaptation in 1985.

The play is based on the Pulitzer prize winning 1982 novel of the same name by Alice Walker. The part of Celie is a poor, young, sexually abused woman who forms a sexual relationship with a female singer as the story progresses.

After the announcement of Omooba’s casting, fellow actor Aaron Lee Lambert re-posted a 2014 Facebook update from her asking if she still stood by saying “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 it doesn’t make it right.”

As the post went viral, The Curve decided to sever ties with the actress, who said subsequently that she hadn’t known the part was that of a lesbian and would have pulled out anyway. 

The lawyer for Global Artists her former agent who she was also suing said Omooba was ‘the author of her own misfortune’. Literally.