Patti LuPone Reprimanded By 500+ Broadway Artists In An Open Letter

[RAMROD 108,063]

 

Patti LuPone's recent comments in the New Yorker, about her fellow actors Kecia Lewis and Audra McDonald, has continued to send shockwaves throughout the theatrical community. After individual Broadway artists, and even McDonald herself, responded, an open letter has now been circulating throughout the industry. The letter has received over 500 signatures, including from Tony winners James Monroe Iglehart, Maleah Joi Moon, and Wendell Pierce. Even Courtney Love has signed the letter, which can be read in full here (any artist who wishes to provide their name to the letter can click here).

The letter, which was provided to Playbill, addresses the Broadway League, the American Theatre Wing, and "the greater theatre community." It characterizes LuPone's comments about Lewis and McDonald as "degrading and misogynistic—it is a blatant act of racialized disrespect. It constitutes bullying. It constitutes harassment. It is emblematic of the microaggressions and abuse that people in this industry have endured for far too long, too often without consequence."

The letter also says that LuPone's comments are part of a pattern in the theatre industry, which has "a persistent failure to hold people accountable for violent, disrespectful, or harmful behavior—especially when they are powerful or well-known."

It then calls for the League and the Wing to disinvite LuPone (and anyone else "who use[s] their platform to publicly demean, harass, or disparage fellow artists") from industry events, including the Tony Awards. And it also asks those disinvited individuals, if they want to continue to engage with the community, to complete "comprehensive anti-bias or restorative justice programs." The letter also asks for "clear, transparent policies for addressing harmful behavior."

This latest bit of theatre drama can be traced back to last year, when LuPone was on Broadway in The Roommate, a show that shared a wall with Hell's Kitchen, where Lewis was (and is) giving her Tony-winning performance in the Alicia Keys musical. There was a noise complaint, where the cast of The Roommate asked if the Hell's Kitchen sound design could be modified to minimize sound bleed. After a video of LuPone disparaging Hell's Kitchen for being loud made the rounds on social media, Lewis took to Instagram to ask for an apology from LuPone and said that calling a show with a majority Black cast loud was a "microaggression." 

When asked about the incident in the New Yorker, LuPone took issue with Lewis calling herself a "veteran," saying, "Let’s find out how many Broadway shows Kecia Lewis has done, because she doesn’t know what the **** she’s talking about...She’s done seven. I’ve done 31. Don’t call yourself a vet, bitch.” (Lewis has actually done 10 shows and LuPone has done 28 shows, though Lewis is younger than LuPone, having made her debut in the '80s). LuPone then added about the noise issue: “This is not unusual on Broadway. This happens all the time when walls are shared.”

New Yorker writer Michael Schulman then brought up Audra McDonald, who had supported Lewis' video. And LuPone said: “And I thought, You should know better. That’s typical of Audra. She’s not a friend." She added that the two had a rift, which she declined to elaborate on.

Schulman then asked LuPone what she thought of McDonald's performance in Gypsy (a show that LuPone had also starred in on Broadway and won a Tony for), and the former Madame Rose declined to answer the question.

Those two actors weren't the only entities that LuPone criticized in the 6,000-word New Yorker profile. She also said that the Kennedy Center under President Trump “should get blown up," called Glenn Close a "bitch" (making it clear she hadn't forgiven Close for starring in Sunset Boulevard on Broadway, a part that had been promised to LuPone), and that she was done with Broadway (which she has said many times before her most recent Broadway show). But it is now clear, based on industry responses, which of LuPone's comments cut the deepest.

https://playbill.com/article/over-500-broadway-artists-release-open-letter-reprimanding-patti-lupone

 

Letter:

 

Edited Friday at 08:21 PM by RAMROD

[River 114,277]

 

[Ladle Ghoulash 21,253]

Ngl claiming that her effectively saying Audra McDonald isn’t vocally right for Mama Rose in Gypsy (which I think is pretty objectively true) is a microaggression is wild and claiming that she’s specifically targeting Lewis and McDonald because they’re women of color doesn’t really add up when you consider that LuPone has said much worse things about white women . Is it ungracious? Absolutely. Is it rude? Assuredly. Is it racist? Probably not. 

Edited Friday at 08:30 PM by Ladle Ghoulash

[nodandsmile 10,180]

she's used to getting cheered on for dragging other people (like Madonna, Trump, ALW...) but she messed with someone who's beloved this time, big mistake!

it's also dumb to constantly talk sh*t about the theater that made you, her big mouth was always going to get her in trouble sooner or later!

[bionic 48,629]

theater people are so dramatic and the letter is kinda anti-semitic coded

[Ladle Ghoulash 21,253]

Just now, bionic said:

theater people are so dramatic and the letter is kinda anti-semitic coded

(Patti LuPone is an Italian Catholic)

But yes on theatre people being dramatic asf 

[bionic 48,629]

2 minutes ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

(Patti LuPone is an Italian Catholic)

But yes on theatre people being dramatic asf 

fr? maybe i have been gaslit by how many jewish characters she has plaid lmao

 

[OliviaRodrigoStan 6,171]

This is so performative and dumb. She is known PRIMARILY for her vocal talent + for being rude. To literally everybody, she has been skulldragging Madonna for actual decades, unprovoked, where all these people asleep all these years?. 

I find the idea of "drawing the line" at melanin to be... odd to say the least. She has always been blunt, and rude, it's what she's known for off-stage. 

To celebrate her for it when she's dragging Trump or Madonna, but then clutch your pearls when it's a black actress' turn, is performative. I don't even think most of these people actually believe her words were racially motivated, but they're still running with it just in case, to "be on the right side". I'm sorry but it just feels silly and disingenuous. 

I hope she continues being rude to everybody undiscriminately 

[Ladle Ghoulash 21,253]

1 minute ago, bionic said:

fr? maybe i have been gaslit by how many jewish characters she has plaid lmao

 

Yeah, Hollywood do just be casting Italian people as Jews for some reason (see: Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino)

[nodandsmile 10,180]

tbh tho when I saw people reacting to what she said about Audra, I expected something ×100 worse than what she actually said 

[Knife 6,845]

I would be more inclined to believe that there was a racial component to her comments if black women were her only targets, but they're absolutely not.

Edited Friday at 08:50 PM by Knife

[bionic 48,629]

1 minute ago, nodandsmile said:

tbh tho when I saw people reacting to what she said about Audra, I expected something ×100 worse than what she actually said 

Audra and Kecia started attacking Patti first

[weed 73,144]

omg this is like "BYE SISTER" but for the broadway community

[bionic 48,629]

also, saying "this is about more than one person" then only attacking Patti is making me scream.

so is saying "this is not about canceling anyone" then saying they want Patti to be excluded from all industry events and to lose her job lmao

[HomoMonsteriens 69]

 

omfg I have never heard of this person so I googled it and this pic showed up, and I was like I defo have seen this somewhere but I just could not remember! Then I scrolled down this page and it was you @Ladle Ghoulash wtf