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Actor Idris Elba was accused of plagiarism and discrimination.
Writers Tori Allen-Martin and Sarah Henley claim that they were removed from the production team on Idris Elba’s play, “Tree.” They are allegedly that they spent 4 years working on the play and that they suffered from “intimidation and disrespect.” The two female writers feel they have not been acknowledged for their work.
The writers released a statement, explaining their side of the story, how they feel about being “pushed” off the play, and not being credited as the producers. “Moving the original writers off a project isn’t unusual and can be done professionally and amicably,” they continued “the levels of intimidation and disrespect we faced were totally unacceptable, soul-destroying and as we’ve since heard — not uncommon for up and coming theatre writers, particularly female ones.”
Elba responds to these claims, and calls the situation “frustrating.”
“We wanted to offer an opportunity to support these new writers while creating a piece of work and scale and to a director’s vision,” he said in a statement via Twitter. “The outcome is an accusation of plagiarism and discrimination.”
Tree – The Genesis. Read my statement https://t.co/91CZ5xHkv3 pic.twitter.com/HjjqIJdP7b
— Idris Elba (@idriselba) July 4, 2019