Oak Speaks out on great comet controversy

[Call_me_jorge]

I wish this would just die now... and yet the saga continues. https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2017/10/03/why-this-former-hamilton-star-says-broadway-has-to-take-a-knee/#92ab80d6d435

I have to call out sooo much BS on him saying the great comet didn’t cultivate diversity. Sounds like someone didn’t get to know his cast members well enough... 

[curel1]

The **** is he on about? How is the cast not diverse?!

[broadwayboy223]

So he's still perpetuating the race aspect. Okay... so he's still not telling the whole truth... wow. He's gonna milk this for all he can I guess 

[amazingamandakate]

Literal lines were changed after Natasha was cast as a black woman. Every role in the show was played at some point (either principally or an understudy) by a POC. Save this for a show like Hello Dolly, Dear Evan Hansen, or Bandstand.

[Lot666]

"an ambitious show that was the darling of the 2017 Tonys"?

I thought Dear Evan Hansen was the "darling of the 2017 Tonys".

[adamgreer]

Horribly written article. The author completely dismisses the very real FACT that Oak wasn't selling tickets and the show needed a name to survive. 

Also, does Oak never want to work in this town again? He really needs to shut up about this already.

[MCfan2]

What??

[Phillytheatreguy10]

^ Nomination-wise Comet was the darling. Also, he's tone deaf when it comes to likening the NFL, a huge corporation to Broadway, which is invested in on a individual basis and has a higher investment risk.  The fact that he is still not taking responsibility for being unprepared for the role makes me respect him less for squandering an opportunity.  I'm sick of people claiming anyone in Hamilton was the star of the show, Jordan Fisher is always called the star of Hamilton on Dancing with the Stars and Oak is now billed as a star here- they were ensemble roles in a successful show- period. He's clearly not a star if he couldn't sell tickets. Who is advising him on his career choices because this hole is getting deeper, it's time to move on. 

[SchuylWERKsister]

Whyyyyyyyyy is this happening?! I can't.

[JSquared2]

Oh f*ck him.  Hopefully he'll never work in NYC (or elsewhere) again.

 

[oncemorewithfeeling2]

Wow. Just wow. This is more instances of facts totally being ignored.

[Scarywarhol]

He is a straight-up narcissist, and he's damaging the credibility of a very important cause with this desperate nonsense. 

[all_that_jazz]

He needs to stand down.  His 15 mins are up!  Noone in their right mind will hire him again.  Good day Sir... I said Good Day!

[GeorgeandDot]

It's just ridiculous BS.  He's trying to find a fancy way of saying "they fired me!! Wahhh!! Me sad!!! I was in Hamilton!!"  He basically blames it all on systematic racism in the acting industry, which is total BS.  He didn't sell tickets so he was fired.  That's how business works.  He retaliated in anger against his employer because they didn't kiss his a** good enough.  He created a fake controversy where there never was one and because of it, it hurt an already struggling show, causing it to close prematurely.  This was one of the few shows on Broadway  (if not the only show on Broadway) with true color blind casting.  People of every color were taken into consideration for each role.  Pippa started with Natasha and was Asian American, and then Denee took over and was African American and was understudied by a white actress and an Indian actress.  I would call that true color blind casting.  The color of the actress doesn't matter so whoever can do it, plays it and I got that, that was their general idea for the whole cast, except apparently Oak didn't want to go with that.  It seems that he believes that his role is now an exclusively black role or something, or does he truly believe that it was racist of them to fire him.  Honestly, he's just making up half baked excuses.  I mean he attempts to kind of compare the creative team and producers to Donald Trump.  I mean, that's a bit labored.  Honestly, he's just hurting himself at this point.

[SchuylWERKsister]

Scarywarhol said: "He is a straight-up narcissist, and he's damaging the credibility of a very important cause with this desperate nonsense."

JSquared2 said: "Hopefully he'll never work in NYC (or elsewhere) again."


I have to agree. And how dare he do this to Rachel. She is a big fan of his and has cast him a few times. What a pity. Very nasty ego.

[Scarywarhol]

It's also extremely dismissive of Denee's contribution to the show (as a title character!) to act as though it didn't mean something until he stepped into Pierre. THEN it became a missed opportunity to nurture diversity. He will never take any responsibility for his lack of preparation, or his inability to sell tickets. He only would have been happy with the show sinking while he was still in it. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Why is he actively choosing to ruin his career?

[ACL2006]

I wonder if he wrote this while on line at unemployment? Seriously, does he really expect to get hired(Bway, regional, etc.) by constantly putting this out there?

[Kad]

What an extremely misleading article that really skews the events in Oak's favor- conveniently leaving out the fact he started late because he was not prepared, the show's sorry financial state, and other various factors.

And I am curious as to how he would define 'cultivation of diversity.' What does that mean? How did Comet not do it?

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

What a head-scratcher this is becoming.

Rather OT, but was he replaced in Frozen ala Betsy Wolfe? Jelani Alladin is also a black Kristoff.

[Call_me_jorge]

^ I remember reading he said he left.

[raddersons]

^^He also said he would learn the accordion, can you trust his word anymore?

[BroadwayConcierge]

He is literally the absolute worst. Way to voluntarily destroy your career. 

[bwayphreak234]

He must REALLY not want to work again. Shame on him.

[BroadwayConcierge]

His quote alleging that Great Comet didn’t take the time to cultivate diversity makes my blood boil. What an asshat.