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The artistic director of London’s Grand Theater has a cast member at the center of his thoughts after he allegedly made racist comments to the man last weekend.
The theater company said on social media on Sunday that the cast members of Grand Ghost experienced two separate experiences of racism. An alleged incident was perpetrated by patrons who had attended a performance earlier in the day, the post said.
“I can tell you the incidents were verbal racial slurs,” Dennis Garnham said. “Through our anti-bullying efforts, we’ve learned that supporting and centering the victim is the priority. The person is not interested in going any further with it.”
Because of that, Garnham said he couldn’t comment on what happened. Still, Grande’s social media posts say it’s deeply disappointing that a guest artist is a target and will not tolerate racist behavior by patrons.
“We call on our communities to be better, to call out racism in all its forms, and to be more inclusive and welcoming for all.”
The post received dozens of responses from people who called out racism and apologized to the artists on behalf of all Londoners.
Last year, the Grand Theater formed an anti-bullying committee led by actor and former board member EB Smith to dismantle systemic racism.
Smith was introduced to London in 2016 when he performed mountain top, A play about Martin Luther King Jr., on the eve of his assassination, Grande.
She recounts how he hurled racial slurs at her while they were in the theater neighborhood along Richmond Row.
“It really highlighted something that was kind of disturbing in the community. So, I wrote about it. It kind of went viral and it started a conversation,” he said during an interview in 2021.
The Grand Theater said on Monday that it is working with the artist to support and improve them.
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