Celebrated LGBT theater director is fired over claims he s a sex pest who performed oral sex on one shocked co-worker, inappropriately touched another - and told victim he masturbated to gang rape scene in Jodie Foster movie
Michael A. Shepperd, longtime artistic director at Los Angeles Celebration Theatre, was fired after at least two actors alleged sexual misconduct
He was accused of performing oral sex on co-worker Michael Taylor Gray in 2006, and inappropriately touched actor Andrew Diego, it is claimed
Shepperd denied any wrongdoing, and said that any sexual activity was consensual
The allegations came to light after actor
Andrew Diego said Shepperd had touched him inappropriately during a 2019 production of The Producers
The sexual misconduct allegations rocking L.A. s largest LGBTQ theater company
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May 28, 2021, 5:00 AM·17 min read
Andrew Diego s Facebook post was the center of Celebration Theatre s sexual misconduct investigation of artistic director Michael Shepperd, who was fired this week. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
As the longtime artistic director of Celebration Theatre, the city’s leading LGBTQ stage, Michael A. Shepperd has been an outspoken advocate for social justice. As a gay Black theater-maker, Shepperd has pushed for inclusion and diversity in the arts. And as a successful director and actor someone who has landed not just on Broadway but also in TV series such as “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “NCIS” and “Criminal Minds” he has been an inspiration to a younger generation trying to break into the business.
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As the longtime artistic director of Celebration Theatre, the city’s leading LGBTQ stage, Michael A. Shepperd has been an outspoken advocate for social justice. As a gay Black theater-maker, Shepperd has pushed for inclusion and diversity in the arts. And as a successful director and actor someone who has landed not just on Broadway but also
in
TV series such as “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “NCIS” and “Criminal Minds” he has been an inspiration to a younger generation trying to break into the business.
But in interviews with The Times, nine people who worked with Shepperd, 58, painted a different portrait of the artistic director, and two men accused Shepperd of sexual misconduct in incidents spanning 13 years. The men also allege Celebration mishandled complaints about Shepperd’s behavior and ultimately chose to keep him in his leadership position until this week, when the theater announced his termination and said an internal investigation had found credibl
LOS ANGELES — As the longtime artistic director of Celebration Theatre, the city s leading LGBTQ stage, Michael A. Shepperd has been an outspoken advocate for social justice. As a gay
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In an interview with The Times, Diego also accused Shepperd of groping backstage during performances and making a graphic sexual proposition. “I think there needs to be space created to have an open and ongoing conversation among queer theater executives about this theme of how we use sexuality amongst each other in our work and our work spaces,” Diego told The Times, “and how we end up in ways big and small bringing repulsive behavior into our spaces.”
Shepperd, who had served as artistic director or co-artistic director of the theater from 2008 to 2011 and again from 2013 to the present, denied the accusations and in a statement criticized the investigation as “a secret report that Celebration Theatre has refused to share with Michael or even provide details thereof.”