'The Pitt' star's reps deny she was fired over 'gay exorcisms' church
Multiple outlets reported the news that Ifeachor wouldn't be reprising her role as Dr. Heather Collins in the HBO Max medical drama, with TV Line citing sources claiming the decision was "a creative one," rather than Ifeachor leaving of her own accord.
Although there are plenty of instances where a character is written off for narrative reasons with no sordid story behind the actor's departure, "creative differences" has long been a catch-all in Hollywood for "something happened and we're not going to talk about it publicly." This led to fans digging into Ifeachor's social media and realizing she has ties to a controversial megachurch in the UK known as Jesus House.
Pink News reported in 2021 that Jesus House has been subject to accusations that it performs "gay exorcisms," though its pastor has denied those claims and said the church does "not engage in any form of conversion therapy" and is not "anti-anyone."
However, as anyone intimately familiar with religion knows, careful wording and hedging leaves a lot of space, and PinkNews pulled further receipts at the time calling up the pastor's previous campaigning against LGBTQ+ rights and the church's somewhat more recent comparisons of homosexuality to bestiality.
With Ifeachor's exit being as unexpected as it was, some fans started wondering if her religious affiliation, perhaps, played into things. One rumor suggested that she hadn't wanted to partake in the abortion storyline the way it was written, while other people were just focused on the whole "gay exorcisms" bit.
— (@)
x.com
"finding tracy ifeachor is part of a mega church that does exorcisms on gay people was not on my 2025 bingo card"
— (@)
x.com
"Me on the set of The Pitt making direct eye contact with Tracy Ifeachor:"
— (@)
x.com
"tracy ifeachor when she saw all the ships of her w other pitt women"
— (@)
x.com
"Would you rather have a Scientology son or whatever the fuck Tracy Ifeachor is involved in daughter. You cannot kill yourself"
Ifeachor's reps caught wind of the social media storm and put out a statement claiming that the actress's beliefs have nothing to do with why she left the show and that she's, like, nice to gay people and stuff.
"These claims are entirely false. First, Tracy was not fired. Dr. Heather Collins was simply not written in as a part of Season 2, which is a creative decision that has been confirmed by HBO," they told The Mirror US. "This gossip could not be further from the truth. She is a woman who leads with love, kindness, and compassion, and as her very gay publicist, I can say that I see this daily, firsthand."
Unfortunately, as we all know, someone having gay friends doesn't stop them from having homophobic viewpoints, let alone being affiliated with organizations that have homophobic stances, whether or not they share them. Having played a lesbian pirate also doesn't prevent homophobia.
On the flip side, a number of people who attend anti-gay churches don't necessarily agree with those beliefs, and some aren't even aware of them at all.
from popculturechat
www.reddit.com
Potential ignorance isn't really a great excuse for associating with a possibly harmful organization, but it does leave us in the dark as to where Ifeachor actually stands personally — and what the real reason behind her exit from The Pitt might be.
This article originally appeared on Pride: 'The Pitt' star's reps deny she was fired over 'gay exorcisms' church
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