Rocky Horror actor sues production company over sexual harassment
The Rocky Horror Show actor Christie Whelan Browne is suing the theatre company behind the production.
Whelan Browne filed documents in the Federal Court this week against Oldfield Entertainment, formerly known as GFO Entertainment.
She alleges she experienced sexual harassment and unlawful sex discrimination at the hands of another cast member during the 2014 production of The Rocky Horror Show.
Rocky Horror actor sues production company
Whelan Browne first made a formal complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission in February.
When the Commission said the matter would not be resolved through mediation she commenced proceedings in the Federal Court.
She alleges Oldfield Entertainment “unlawfully discriminated against me by subjecting me to sex discrimination, repeated sexual harassment by a fellow cast member and to victimisation when I spoke out against him”.
“My claim is about my experiences when I was employed as a lead actor in The Rocky Horror Show in 2014 and then Oldfield’s response to my complaints from 2017 to date.
“I filed this application today with fear and anxiety, but also certain in the knowledge that it is something I must do and that I will see through to the end.
“I know that I deserved better treatment, that I deserved to feel safe and respected in my workplace.
“Other women in the arts deserve better, and I won’t accept that anything less than that is ‘just the way it is’.”
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Craig McLachlan
Actor Craig McLachlan launched defamation proceedings in 2018 against The Sydney Morning Herald, the ABC and Whelan Browne.
The media outlets had reported Whelan Browne’s allegations that he had sexually harassed female performers during the 2014 stage production of The Rocky Horror Show.
McLachlan abandoned the case last year, before the media organisations and Whelan Browne had put their witnesses in the box.
The court ordered him to pay legal costs in the order of $2 million.
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