Geno Segers Exits “Hadestown” After Anti-Trans Video Backlash
After videos mocking transgender people sparked backlash, the former Disney star apologized -- then deleted the apology.
Former Disney star Geno Segers has left the new Broadway cast of Hadestown, following backlash over social media videos in which he mocked transgender people and dismissed claims that their rights are under attack.
Segers, who previously starred in the Disney XD sitcom Pair of Kings, was set to play Hades, god of the underworld, in the hit musical. According to the Broadway and community theater publication OnStage Blog, Segers had posted several videos to his social media channels with titles including “TRANS FAIRNESS?”, “NO MORE TRANS?” and “HE…I MEAN SHE BROKE THE RECORD.”
In one video, Segers claimed that accepting transgender people’s identities is a slippery slope toward accepting people who identify as animals. He also claimed that transgender people are not oppressed. In other videos, he mocked the use of gender-affirming pronouns, opposed allowing transgender women to compete on women’s sports teams, and ridiculed the idea that transgender men could become pregnant — apparently failing to understand that transgender men are assigned female at birth.
The videos drew backlash from members of the theater community. As clips began circulating online, Segers made his Instagram account private and removed several videos from his YouTube channel, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Writing for OnStage Blog, Chris Peterson argued that the incident showed that Hadestown producers and casting teams had failed to sufficiently research the backgrounds of prospective cast members.
“Someone did not need to hire a private investigator to uncover these videos,” Peterson wrote. “They simply needed to type Segers’ name into YouTube and Instagram and watch what he chose to post.”
Peterson also noted that the controversy surrounding Segers came shortly after Hadestown cast Gary Dourdan as Hades earlier this year, a decision that drew criticism after internet sleuths uncovered Dourdan’s criminal history. In 2012, the actor pleaded no contest in a domestic violence case and received five years’ probation and 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling.
“This does not mean people can never work again after a criminal case or public controversy,” he wrote. “It also does not mean every unpopular opinion or past mistake should result in permanent unemployment. Background checks should provide context, not automatically produce a blacklist. But that context should force producers to ask serious questions before a contract is signed. Has this person demonstrated accountability? Have their views or behavior changed? Could the casting make other company members feel unsafe, unwelcome, or disrespected?”
Segers’s departure was formally announced on August 2. No reason was given for the decision.
“The producers of Hadestown and Geno Segers have mutually agreed that Mr. Segers will no longer join the Broadway production,” the producers said in a statement. “Additional casting will be announced shortly.”
On August 3, Segers posted an apology on Instagram to “everyone impacted by my words.”
“While I never intended to inflict harm, I recognize that the impact of my statements is what matters most,” he wrote. “I am fully committed to listening, educating myself, and elevating my standards. I will work tirelessly to earn the opportunity to make things right.”
He also apologized to the Hadestown team “for the stress my actions have brought to this production,” adding that he accepted “full responsibility for my words” and acknowledged “the necessity of immediate accountability.”
Peterson criticized Segers’s apology as insufficient in a separate August 3 post for OnStage Blog. He faulted Segers for deleting the offending videos without directly addressing why transgender performers and theater fans found them disturbing or whether his beliefs had changed.
On August 10, Peterson reported that Segers’s apology had been removed from his Instagram account.
“I already thought the apology was weak,” Peterson wrote in a scathing editorial. “It never specifically mentioned transgender people, despite much of the controversy centering on videos where Segers mocked pronoun use, questioned transgender rights, and misogynistic comments toward women. Instead, we got vague references to ‘affected communities,’ promises to learn, and a declaration that he accepted responsibility. And now even that appears to be disappearing.
“[I]f Segers truly wants to demonstrate that his apology meant something,” Peterson continued, “removing the apology itself is a pretty strange place to start…. But if his apology was only posted so he could simply relaunch his career at a later date, then he will truly have learned nothing, and that will be the saddest part of this whole episode.”
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