The Australian production of Green Day’s award-winning American Idiot musical has bagged itself a new leading man after the last one was fired for “inappropriate behaviour”.
ICYMI: Linden Furnell was given the flick from his role as ‘Johnny’ in the punk-rock opera for admittedly acting like a right Australian Idiot during one rehearsal.
The actor took to Facebook to explain that he’d made a “mistake” during one scene where, “Johnny and Whatsername have sex”, saying “It was a particularly hot night in an old theatre without suitable aircon and we were both comically sweaty”.
“Without thought, I made a crude allusion to menstruation amongst the banter. It was in poor taste and a lame attempt at humour. The kind of thing you say to make your friends go ‘euugghhh gross’,” he continued.
He then explained that he found out “via a text conversation” with the unnamed cast member that it had made her, “very uncomfortable and thrown off her show”, adding that he immediately apologised and “genuinely regret[s] the upset I caused that day”.
“I made a mistake, owned up to it, was immediately fired. That’s hopefully the end of it,” he concluded.
Now, the showrunners have announced his replacement in the form of Ben Bennett, who previously played the ‘Johnny’ role during the show’s initial run in Brisbane.
“We are thrilled to announce that Ben Bennett returns to the role of Johnny in Green Day’s American Idiot,” their official Facebook post reads.
“Ben garnered rave reviews in the premiere Australian production in 2017 and rejoins #AmericanIdiotAU direct from performing in Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Muriel’s Wedding.”
American Idiot is currently in Melbourne and ends its run on March 11th before heading to Brisbane and Darwin.
