Broadway Actor Chad Kimball Sues 'Come From Away' Producers, Claims He Was Fired Because of Religious Beliefs

Broadway actor Chad Kimball has filed a lawsuit against the producers of the musical Come From Away, alleging that they fired him because of his religious beliefs.

The 45-year-old actor, who was nominated for a Tony Award for his work in the musical Memphis, was part of the original cast of Come From Away and appeared in 1,100 performances of the musical.

Chad was one of the many Broadway performers who contracted COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic back in March 2020.

Then, in November 2020, Chad faced a ton of backlash from the Broadway community when he said he would disobey COVID-19 safety restrictions on religious services.

Chad wrote on Twitter at the time, “Respectfully, I will never allow a Governor, or anyone, to stop me from SINGING, let alone sing in worship to my God. Folks, absolute POWER corrupts ABSOLUTELY. This is not about safety. It’s about POWER. I will respectfully disobey these unlawful orders.”

Click inside for more details on the lawsuit…

When Come From Away returned to Broadway last month, Chad was not invited to rejoin the cast of the musical. He was also not part of the filmed version that is now streaming on Apple TV+.

In a new lawsuit, Chad claims that the producers “unlawfully terminated [him] wholly or partly because [his] religious beliefs simply made them uncomfortable.”

He claims that the “failure to re-hire was based wholly or partly upon [his] religious faith.”

Page Six reports that Chad‘s lawyer said, “On Nov. 15, 2020, Mr. Kimball tweeted from his personal Twitter account expressing his faith in God and that no one will stop him from living his faith. … Thereafter, until Jan. 4, 2021, Mr. Kimball was forced to explain and defend his Nov. 15, 2020 tweet to Defendants’ agents and employees.”

Chad‘s lawyer says that a producer contacted him on January 18 and allegedly “informed Mr. Kimball that there was a question regarding Mr. Kimball’s belief as a ‘Conversative [sic] Christian’ as there was a conversation around Mr. Kimball’s ‘freedom to believe’ in what he believes.”

Chad alleges that he was told on January 22 that he was “not invited back … and was terminated.” He claims he was told “that there was ‘too much work to do’ and that the ‘Come From Away’ production needed to focus on bringing the show back together and ensure people’s safety.”

The lawsuit details how Chad was allegedly affected by the termination.

“As a result of his termination as a result of faith, [he] felt extremely humiliated, degraded, victimized, embarrassed, emotionally distressed, extremely distraught and intimidated,” the lawsuit claims. Chad‘s lawyer says the actor was “made to suffer significant economic and professional harm, in addition to emotional and physical pain and suffering, economic loss; physical and emotion stress; and, in some instances severe emotional trauma, depression, illness, hopelessness and anxiety, loss of confidence, self-esteem and self-worth, and other irreparable harm resulting from the strain of employment controversies caused by Defendants and/or Defendants’ agents and/or employees.”