At some point most actors will have to deal with a heckler. Indeed some have made a bit of a name for themselves by stopping productions to deal with someone who’s mobile phone is ringing. However John Lacy ended up getting fired recently after dealing with a heckler shouting homophobic abuse during a production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof in California.

It’s said the heckling started with catcalls at the actress playing Maggie. However as the play’s homoerotic subtext built up to a scene where Brick rejects Maggie’s advances, the shouts turned homophobic.

The LA Weekly spoke to audience member Tim Sullivan, a director and friend of Anton Troy, the actor playing Brick, with the publication reporting, ‘The heckling had been building up, Sullivan alleged, with whistling and cat-calling aimed at the character Maggie, as if the heckler and his friend “were at a strip club.” The main heckler crossed the line during the play, Sullivan said, when, at the moment Brick is asked why he rejected a kiss from Maggie. At that point, the heckler called out something like, “Because he’s a fag,” according to the director. At that point the actor playing Big Daddy, John Lacy, went into the audience to confront the man, Sullivan said. Before the heckler’s friend could throw a punch, Sullivan and his pal (Rob Vinton, son of Bobby) jumped in and subdued both men, he said.’

Although it’s said Lacy returned to the stage to a standing ovation from the rest of the audience, the producers were less impressed and fired him for physically confronting the patron. Anton Troy then quit in solidarity.

However not all the actors were as impressed, as Missy Kaye and Emily Low both spoke out on Facebook against Lacy’s actions. “By you jumping off the stage and putting your hands on this guy put the whole theatre in jeopardy, cast and audience, and to me that is unforgivable,” Kaye wrote. “What if this guy had a weapon? Did that cross your mind?”

The Repertory East Playhouse, where Cat On A Hot Tin Roof was playing, commented, ‘During that evening’s performance, an unruly patron allegedly made discriminatory comments that distracted audience members and a confrontation occurred between a member of the cast and the disturbing party. The management of the REP regrets that this situation was not brought to their attention sooner and would like to assure future audiences that disruptive behavior, including disparaging remarks from the audience, incidents of bullying or hate speech, and racial, discriminatory or homophobic utterances, will not be tolerated and offending parties will be asked to leave the theatre.’

Lacy is backing down though, telling HuffPo, “I have spectacular friends and an extremely supportive family; those who know me know my character and have applauded my stance. Unfortunately, the fact that two of our cast fractured the spirit of our unity and chose to condemn my actions rather than support makes ‘getting the band back together’ next to impossible.”

It appears that the final two weeks of the production will now be cancelled.