Fairfax Media understands Mr Furnell's management was advised on Sunday evening that he was being sacked from the production. They pleaded with the show's producers, shake & stir theatre company, to open mediation between Mr Furnell and the cast member who made the allegations, but the producers declined to do so and demanded Mr Furnell retrieve his belongings from the theatre by 1.30pm on Monday. Mr Furnell then weighed in on the email exchange between his management and the producers and advised he was no longer willing to work for the company after such a humiliating experience and would accept the dismissal. Linden Furnell in American Idiot, the musical based on punk band Green Day. In a statement issued in response to Mr Furnell's Facebook post, shake & stir claimed he had been dismissed as "a consequence of breaching the company's Statement of Zero Tolerance to Inappropriate Behaviour previously communicated to him and all other company members by company management".

The incident comes just a day after Live Performance Australia, the group representing theatre and live music producers (among others), issued a draft set of guidelines regarding sexual harassment, assault and bullying in the workplace. Those guidelines state that while definitions vary, "generally sexual harassment occurs where a person engages in unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature in circumstances in which a reasonable person would be offended, humiliated or intimidated" and included "suggestive comments, jokes, conversations or innuendo". In his Facebook post, Mr Furnell conceded he had been foolish, but insisted his comment was entirely without malice and he had quickly apologised for it. He wrote that the incident occurred shortly after a sex scene between himself and an actress (Phoebe Panaretos) in the production recently. Phoebe Panaretos in American Idiot.

"Some off-mic character banter takes place between us in the background," he wrote. "One night I wasn't careful and made a mistake. "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'. I found out later that same night via a text conversation with her that it had made her very uncomfortable and thrown off her show. "Naturally, when I discovered the fact I apologised immediately and said that I would do what was necessary to avoid making that mistake again and reassured that I definitely did not intend to cause hurt or discomfort. I made a poor judgement call, assumed too much comfort in a work friendship. I apologised again for the upset caused. "Unbeknownst to me at the time, she had also gone to management ... apparently she didn't intend for this to happen, but it did happen and here we are.

"The climate is a sensitive one and there appears to be little room for nuance, intention, or even an accurate portrayal of events. "Once something like this is even mentioned, duty of care rolls in and takes over. The producers had a knee-jerk reaction, probably as a form of damage control/prevention, and I found myself fired without so much as a conversation." Linden Furnell in another stage show. He added that his sharing this news was "not a call for anyone's pity or scorn. This is an update on where I'm at so I don't get a bazillion messages about why I'm no longer playing Johnny in American Idiot. "I made a mistake, owned up to it, was immediately fired. That's hopefully the end of it."

Below is the full statement from the producers of the show, shake & stir theatre company: "The musical, and the company's Artistic Director, Nick Skubij, confirmed its position re Mr Furnell's Facebook claims as follows: "Ahead of the Melbourne opening of American Idiot the musical, Mr Furnell was dismissed from his role in the musical. "Mr Furnell's dismissal was a consequence of breaching the company's Statement of Zero Tolerance to Inappropriate Behaviour previously communicated to him and all other company members by company management. "The decision to dismiss Mr Furnell was not taken lightly.

"Accordingly, and in the interests of a healthy and safe workplace, the company decided to act. "At the time of his dismissal, Mr Furnell advised in writing his acceptance of the termination. "For shake & stir theatre co, the well-being and safety of all our company members and all our employees is our top priority." Fairfax Media put a number of questions to the producers about the events in the lead up to Mr Furnell's dismissal but they refused to comment.