Keith Wann, a comedian and performer, said his skin color was the reason he was fired from The Lion King on Broadway. Keith was one of two people asked to leave the production when the Theatrical Development Foundation said white interpreters would not be allowed to play black roles in the ASL Broadway musical.
On November 8, Wann filed a lawsuit against Lisa Carling, head of accessibility initiatives. The complaint and email in which Carling ordered Wann and interpreter Christina Mosleh to stop performing and replace them with black sign language practitioners were obtained by the New York Post. Responding to the incident, he told the publication:
“Seeing that prejudice doesn’t matter to me whether I’m white or black.” It’s obvious and I hope more people with similar experiences will speak up.”
In March of this year, Keith Wann was invited to work on the show. He was surprised when Carling emailed him and another interpreter asking them to leave the show. By email:
“I am deeply ashamed and regretful to ask that you both withdraw from your work as a concert interpreter for us on Sunday, April 24.” There is no other way out of this. This seems to be the best option.”
Carling decided to get rid of Wan when The Lion King’s ASL director, Shelly Guy, begged her to do so. Guy informed Carling in April 2022 that most of the characters in the play were played by black people and that the story was set in Africa. Guy believes that although Wann is a great actor, he is not black and therefore should not be playing The Lion King.
Keith Wann was fired the next day, despite earning $1,000 for his performance. He stopped answering Carling’s e-mails and phone calls as he weighed his options before deciding to take the case to federal court in Manhattan. Mosleh has yet to respond, while the Theater Development Foundation, Carling, Guy and Disney Theatrical Productions declined to comment.
Keith Wann has long been associated with the language of the American language.
Keith Wann was born into a family of deaf parents on January 4, 1969. In 2002, he made his debut with the ASL Improvement Group and in 2004 he started a solo career. . He became famous after posting Vanilla Ice’s ASL Ice Ice Baby video clip on YouTube.
Keith Wann is an ASL performer who has acted in various short films. He has also starred in Pepsi commercials and TV series such as Law & Order and Quantico. He is currently working as a writer and performer for Sign It! Simplified American Sign Language. Wann even flies to the United States every weekend to do his solo show and the ASL comedy tour.
He also organizes seminars and advocates for ASL. Wann and his wife, Emilia, joined LegalShield as independent associates and are now traveling the country to provide the ASL community with easy access to the legal system. Wann also hosts workshops, and some ASL students take advantage of his monthly ASL song club to creatively learn sign language. He has appeared in a number of Broadway productions, including School of Rock, Noises Off, West Side Story, Shrek: The Musical, Little Shop of Horrors, and others. Keith Wann collaborated with Sia on her music video for the song Soon We’ll Be Found, and as an ASL artist, he has created several solo repertoire in addition to performing ASL Comedy Tour throughout the decade.
Categories: Entertaintment
Source: vcmp.edu.vn