NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Tony-nominated actor Chad Kimball has filed a lawsuit alleging that he was fired from the Broadway hit "Come From Away" over his Christian beliefs.
Kimball filed the suit against the 9/11-themed play's producer, Kiss The Cod Broadway, as well as its management company, Alchemy Production Group, the New York Post reported Friday.
Kimball told the Post that it all started in November 2020, when he tweeted his disapproval of a COVID-19 restriction in his home state of Washington, where the governor prohibited congregation members from singing at religious services, even if masked.
"Respectfully, I will never allow a Governor, or anyone, to stop me from SINGING, let alone sing in worship to my God," Kimball tweeted at the time. "Folks, absolute POWER corrupts ABSOLUTELY. This is not about safety. It's about POWER. I will respectfully disobey these unlawful orders."
The tweet gained more attention than he expected, and he was "ratioed" by detractors on the site. He sent a follow-up tweet, noting that he wasn't anti-mask, as some commenters had claimed, and that "the overreach — in my opinion! — is not being able to sing even WITH a mask ON."
The Twitter drama didn't die down, so Kimball emailed "Come From Away" producer Susan Frost to let her know that "I tweeted something that caused controversy."
Kimball said he started to wonder if his job was in jeopardy when Frost "didn't offer" to defend him. Frost didn't provide a comment to the Post.
According to the lawsuit, after the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Frost reached out to Kimball with "concerns" that "events at the Capitol, Josh Hawley and the Conservative Christian movement were tied together and implied a connection between Mr. Kimball, by virtue of his faith, to the ideas and actions of the January 6, 2021 events at the US Capitol."
Days later on Jan. 22, Kimball was informed by Frost that he was terminated, according to the complaint, which claims Frost said there was "too much work to do" with bringing back the play from its pandemic hiatus.
In the suit, Kimball said he asked the play's director, Christopher Ashley, "if the termination was because of the feelings within the cast or because of my religious beliefs. He said it was everything."
Ashley also did not give a comment to the Post.
Kimball was a member of the play's cast since its first run in 2015, but the show reopened on Broadway without him in September.
Kimball said he wishes nothing but the best to the play's cast and crew, telling the Post, "The show has an important message of accepting all who come to your door regardless of what they believe. The problem is that it did not apply to me when it should have."
