Geno Segers will no longer join Broadway’s ‘Hadestown’ after online backlash
The actor and producers say they mutually agreed to part ways following criticism over past comments about transgender people.
“Hadestown” producers and actor Geno Segers have mutually agreed that he will no longer join the Broadway musical after his casting drew backlash over past videos about transgender people.
Entertainment Weekly reported that Segers had been scheduled to make his Broadway debut as Hades on Sept. 1 at the Walter Kerr Theatre. Producers said additional casting would be announced shortly but did not explain why he was leaving the production.
The announcement arrived days after theater fans circulated videos from Segers’ social media accounts. Entertainment Weekly reported that the clips included his opposition to transgender women competing in women’s sports and jokes about people sharing their pronouns. Segers later made his Instagram account private and removed videos from YouTube, according to the outlet.
Because the production did not connect those posts to the decision, the revised article does not state that they officially caused his exit. The timing, however, followed sustained online criticism and calls for “Hadestown” to reconsider the casting.
Iman, who was set to play Persephone opposite Segers, indicated that she had raised concerns away from social media. In an Instagram Stories post shared after the announcement, the Tony nominee said she had not been publicly posting but had demanded answers behind the scenes. She then celebrated the change with a joke about refusing to have a clown as her stage husband unless they were performing at a circus.
The casting reversal leaves the production without its next Hades less than a month before the incoming principal cast begins performances. Jasmin Savoy Brown remains set to play Eurydice, Kayko will play Orpheus, Norbert Leo Butz will take over as Hermes and Iman will portray Persephone.
Segers’ prior credits include playing Mufasa in the Australian production of “The Lion King,” appearing in New York City Center’s “On the Town” and acting in “Pair of Kings,” “Banshee” and “Yellowstone.” The role in “Hadestown” would have been his first Broadway appearance.