A white sign language interpreter is suing Disney’s hit broadway show “The Lion King” after he was allegedly fired due to the color of his skin, he told Fox News Monday.
American sign language (ASL) interpreter Keith Wann is seeking to reclaim lost payments after allegedly being denied work on account of his whiteness, his lawyer, Josh Pepper, told “Fox & Friends.” The ASL expert, who would have been offered $1,000 per show, said he is suing because “wrong is wrong.”
“We think it’s a strong case that they refused to give him this job because he is white,” Pepper said, explaining that the lawsuit is based on a Reconstruction-era statute meant to protect black people from losing their businesses. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1976 that white people could sue under this statute as well, according to the outlet.
Broadway’s ‘The Lion King’ is facing lawsuit for allegedly firing sign language interpreter for being White https://t.co/PPSFhh1naG
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Wann filed suit against Theatre Development Fund director Lisa Carling on Tuesday, citing April 2 email which stated that “it’s no longer appropriate to have White interpreters represent Black characters for ASL Broadway shows,” the New York Post reported. Wann was originally scheduled to fill in after two interpreters of color said they couldn’t work a certain performance.
Carling was allegedly purging white people from the workforce at the request of Lion King’s ASL director Shelly Guy, who asked her to remove all non-black interpreters, the outlet noted. “Keith Wann, though an amazing ASL performer, is not a black person and therefore should not be representing Lion King,” she stated, according to the Post.
“If you insert a different color, if you insert a different race, it is wrong. You are not allowed to fire somebody because of that reason,” Wann told Fox News.