CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images
Sign language interpreter Keith Wann is suing the Theatre Development Fund for firing him based on race.
Wann says he was asked to back out of interpreting ‘The Lion King’ Broadway show in April because he is white.
‘To me, just seeing that discrimination, it doesn’t matter if I’m white or black,’ Wann says.
A white sign language interpreter is suing “The Lion King” for discrimination – alleging he was fired from the Broadway show because of his race.
Keith Wann, 53, and at least one other interpreter were asked to leave the production by the non-profit that supplies Broadway shows with its American Sign Language interpreters — Theatre Development Fund.
Keith Wann has worked on Broadway for about a decade, according to reports.
Courtesy of Keith Wann
According to the New York Post, the organization decided it was “no longer appropriate to have white interpreters represent Black actors in Broadway shows.”
On Tuesday, Wann responded with a federal discrimination lawsuit against the Theatre Development Fund and its director of accessibility, Lisa Carling.
According to the lawsuit, Wann and another white interpreter — Christina Mosleh — were asked to step down from the show so they could be replaced by Black sign-language interpreters.
“To me, just seeing that discrimination, it doesn’t matter if I’m white or black,” said Wann, according to NY Post. “This is blatant and I would just hope that other people who have also experienced this would step forward.”
Wann took the gig in March, and it paid $1,000 per show, MSN reports. Just days later, Wann said he received an email from Carling asking he and Mosleh to back out of the show due to “the current social climate.”
“With great embarrassment and apologies, I’m asking you both to please back out of interpreting the show for us on Sunday, April 24,” Carling wrote, according to the NY Post report. “I don’t see any other way out of this. It seems like the best solution.”
Although Carling asked Wann and the other interpreter to step down, the suit cites an email alleging it was the decision of the show’s director of ASL, Shelly Guy, to terminate non-Black interpreters from “The Lion Lion King.”
Wann’s career as a Broadway interpreter spans a decade. He said he has interpreted for a diverse group of characters including those played by Black actors.
“I lost sleep over it,” Wann told the NY Post. “Wrong is wrong.”
Neither Wann nor the Theatre Development Fund immediately responded to Insider’s request for comment.