Geno Segers will no longer star in Hadestown on Broadway after anti-trans backlash
“The producers of Hadestown and Geno Segers have mutually agreed that Mr. Segers will no longer join the Broadway production," said a spokesperson
By Aaron Sugg
Actor Geno Segers will no longer join the Broadway production of Hadestown, producers have confirmed after anti-trans comments resurfaced online.
As confirmed by a spokesperson to Entertainment Weekly, he and the production “mutually agreed” to part ways ahead of the new cast taking over on 1 September at the Walter Kerr Theatre.
“The producers of Hadestown and Geno Segers have mutually agreed that Mr. Segers will no longer join the Broadway production. Additional casting will be announced shortly,” the statement read.
Who is in the new cast of Hadestown?
Segers was scheduled to join the hit musical as Hades, god of the underworld, alongside a brand-new cast featuring Amber Iman as Persephone, Kayko as Orpheus, Jasmin Savoy Brown as Eurydice and Norbert Leo Butz as Hermes.
No official reason was given for Segers’ departure, though he has recently faced backlash over resurfaced anti-trans remarks online.
According to the OnStage blog, Segers posted YouTube videos titled “TRANS FAIRNESS?”, “NO MORE TRANS?” and “HE… I MEAN SHE BROKE THE RECORD”, all of which have since been deleted.
Geno Segers faces backlash over online anti-trans remarks
In those videos, he criticised trans women participating in women’s sport and mocked the common practice of asking somebody for their pronouns.
Segers’s Instagram has also been made private following the backlash.
Iman, who is due to play Persephone opposite Hades, appeared to reference the controversy in an Instagram Story yesterday (2 August), resharing a post about the news with her own thoughts underneath.
“I’ll be damned if my ‘husband’ is a clown and we’re not at the circus” – Amber Iman referencing Segers’s departure
The actress wrote: “I wasn’t posting, But I was not quiet. Sometimes you gotta get off social media and demand answers. Cuz I’ll be damned if my ‘husband’ is a clown and we’re not at the circus. ONWARD.”
Segers’s on-stage works include The Lion King (Australia) and On the Town, as well as TV roles in Yellowstone, Banshee and Pair of Kings. Hadestown would have been his Broadway debut.
It has not yet been announced who will replace him as Hades in the production.