Opera Australia has made the decision to release Georgian soprano Tamar Iveri from her contract performing in its production Otello, due to an anti-gay remark the singer made on Facebook last year.

The comment, which described gay people as “faecal masses and sewage”, was described as a letter to the Georgian president following gay pride where Christian Orthodox groups assaulted members of a march in the capital of Tbilisi.

The full post read, “I was quite proud of the fact how Georgian society spat at the parade…often, in certain cases, it is necessary to break laws in order to be appreciated as a nation in the future, and to be taken into account seriously. Please, stop vigorous attempts to bring the west’s ‘faecal masses’ in the mentality of the people by means of propaganda”.

The post was removed following backlash of over 1000 posts that included calls for the singer to be dropped, as well as complaints about at how the company was handling the situation. One post read, “As a loyal subscriber for the past decade, I am now questioning whether I should support your organisation”.

Iveri blamed the post on her husband, who she said had been using her account at the time and was strongly religious and opposed to homosexuals. She added, “I have never been prejudiced against anyone, whether for religious, or racial reasons, or for any other kind of prejudice including those regarding sexual preference”.

Opera Australia later posted a statement on Facebook confirming that Iveri would no longer be performing in the production, adding that the opening date for the show would remain as planned (July 5) and a replacement would be “announced shortly”.

Show sponsor Mazda also used Facebook as an outlet to comment on the matter, “Over the last 48 hours we communicated strongly to Opera Australia our concerns and position on this matter”.

A change.org petition calling for Iver’s passport and visa to work in Australia to be revoked attracted more than 4,500 signatures.