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

[Roughhouse Dandy 10,897]

2 hours ago, OliviaRodrigoStan said:

But this does not seem to be the case of "the industry trying to prioritize kindness". This woman has talked TRASH about Madonna and Kim Kardashian, nobody interpreted that she was "causing damage" by negatively criticizing two women in the industry. It was universally agreed upon, that those were just her opinions on those two individuals, she was entitled to them, and that was it. 

If the moment she behaves the same way towards a black actress, it automatically becomes unacceptable, and 500+ actors demand LuPone to be ostracized from the industry forever... . It does feel performative, to me. 

You just touched on the main point of this situation and why the open letter happened. When she trash talks Kim K or Madonna, their jobs and their future careers aren't hurt. When she talks about Audra having to "know better", the one big new musical on Broadway that's giving Black people employment being "too loud" instead of handling it professionally, and minimizing the career of Kecia, it can hurt their careers. Hell's Kitchen on someone's resume becomes "that obnoxiously loud show that damaged THE Patti Lupone's production" to casting directors and producers instead of "the physically demanding new musical". Producers can use Patti's comments as an excuse to overlook Audra for another big name because she's "controversial and brings drama with her" and consider Kecia just another face in the lineup instead of the Broadway veteran title she has earned. And those casting directors and producers are grasping for any scrap of an excuse to keep theatre in NYC white/cis/male centered, I promise you. 

Her "diva" antics aren't going to be weaponized against white people the way it assuredly will here. So yeah. When Patti's words are damaging the community, the community is doing the right thing by being vocal about it. And its a bunch of theatre people who live, breathe, and eat drama as their profession; its gonna be extra. That's just how it works lol

Edited May 31 by Roughhouse Dandy

[Future Lovers 6,761]

4 hours ago, NemoMyName said:

wtf is this mentality? so people should have inmunity from being insulted or criticized only for their color skin? 

That is not at all what I said, and I think you know that. 

[Future Lovers 6,761]

4 hours ago, OliviaRodrigoStan said:

It is infantilizing 100%. It feels very "gen-z activism", in the way that it is completely performative and pour la galerie. There is an actual fascist resurgence globally, the tolerance towards hate-speech against minorities is the highest it has been for the past decade... and this is what makes these 500+ people move?  Patti LuPone? . 

Is good to see that "progressive activists" continue cannibalizing each other, while the actual far right continues to solidify and win over the youth, and the elections . I'm sorry but I can't with these people's priorities. 

Patti LuPone is not the enemy, but whatever 💀. 

Nobody said she was the enemy. 

A lot of you people aren’t a part of the theatre community and don’t understand the level of influence that Patti LuPone has within it. To have someone of her stature be echoing such common talking points used to put down POC performers is indeed an issue. 

This (along with film) is my community. My field of study and work as an adult is film but my college degree is in theatre. I have been in this community for over a decade. She has weight here and what she says does indeed matter as a result. 

I think a lot of you missing why this matters really need to learn how the Broadway industry specifically works and how these sorts of comments from someone as respected and powerful in that world can have direct negative impact on the careers of the women she’s speaking about. You may think it’s not possible but it is. We have seen it happen before, and all it took was someone saying one thing to cause another artist a lifetime of difficulty in this profession. 

I don’t think she was intentionally trying to be singularly rude to a POC performer on the basis of them being a POC. Nobody does. But that doesn’t make what she said any less a micro-aggression. In fact, micro-aggressions are usually things the person committing them aren’t fully aware they’re doing. 

That’s why, along with her exposure level, it is important to call out this behavior and bring attention to why it was harmful language. 

No one is trying to cancel her. Making someone take a little bit of accountability is not cancelling someone. 

This doesn’t make her The Enemy, and not a SOUL has said or implied that she is. But it also doesn’t mean that it isn’t worthy of criticism. I really don’t understand why some of you are so keen on excusing her speaking the way she did about a fellow artist completely without justified provocation. 

Edited May 31 by Future Lovers

[Ziggy 11,571]

Welp

run your mouth on everything under the sun and see what happens

[OliviaRodrigoStan 6,344]

1 hour ago, Roughhouse Dandy said:

You just touched on the main point of this situation and why the open letter happened. When she trash talks Kim K or Madonna, their jobs and their future careers aren't hurt. When she talks about Audra having to "know better", the one big new musical on Broadway that's giving Black people employment being "too loud" instead of handling it professionally, and minimizing the career of Kecia, it can hurt their careers.

This is an imaginary scenario. Her career wasn't hurt. To base judgement on a person's tone or intention, based on the hypothetical worse scenario, is crazy. 

Madonna COULD have been suicidal when LuPone called her talentless. Are we going to accuse her of deliberately trying to deteriorate Madonna's mental health, based on a hypothetical scenario? . Because what would be the alternative of LuPone's complaining? if she felt like the cast was being loud to the point of it being distracting, or disruptive (which to me, sounds like something that a woman her age, and with her temper, would feel, she is known for being strict and throwing tantrums on stage), is she supposed to simply take it? . Because that appears to be the subtext: if you have a disagreement with a black colleague, the proper thing to do, is to just do nothing, because you COULD be stigmatizing them, and it COULD hurt their careers? that seems ridiculous to me, and it is a sentiment I do not share. 

Kelcia's career wasn't hurt, and 500+ of her colleagues seem to be more concerned about her äss than actual nazi propaganda in mainstream media. The hypothetical scenario did not happen, so what now? .

Again: I think it's fair for Kelcia to feel like LuPone was being rude for complaining, and as a black woman, I'm not gonna tell her that SHE CAN'T feel like being called loud is a microaggression. If that's how she feels, that's how she feels. And it is her right to express it. 

But over five hundred people gathering together against THE THREAT that... Patti LuPone represents?  when we have Kanye West making it fashionable to be a literal nazi, and several governments across the globe inciting violence against the most vulnerable demographics? . I'm sorry, but this feels performative, cosmetic, and exaggerated to me. 

Patti LuPone might be a cvnt, but she's not racist, and all these people could be spending such energy on more important issues, in my opinion. 

[Roughhouse Dandy 10,897]

Just now, OliviaRodrigoStan said:

.

Alright, girlypop. The questions you're asking have been answered and the situation and context has been explained thoroughly in this thread by more than one person with ties to the industry. It's pretty obvious you're stuck in your own mindset about the racial implications and you're not in the mood to think about it a little more critically. Have fun with that. 

[ActualPatient 1,583]

500+ signatures? I demand a recount.

[nATAH 47,495]

what's the tea on her vs madonna

[Roughhouse Dandy 10,897]

54 minutes ago, nATAH said:

what's the tea on her vs madonna

Patti did Evita. Madonna did Evita. Patti has said multiple times that Madonna "can't act her way out of a paper bag", "she's a movie killer" and she's "dead behind the eyes". She's doubled and tripled down and everytime she's asked about it she'll repeat it. She ate a "death wing" on her hot ones episode with Aubrey Plaza instead of fake apologizing 

[Bronco 9,795]

28 minutes ago, Roughhouse Dandy said:

Patti did Evita. Madonna did Evita. Patti has said multiple times that Madonna "can't act her way out of a paper bag", "she's a movie killer" and she's "dead behind the eyes". She's doubled and tripled down and everytime she's asked about it she'll repeat it. She ate a "death wing" on her hot ones episode with Aubrey Plaza instead of fake apologizing 

Honestly as a Madonna fan, she's right 

 

And on the wider thread topic - I felt a bit iffy about where the racialisation was at first.

But like - these noise complaints for theaters sharing walls are according to her own words pretty common. 

Now I love Lupone's diva strops and I can't think of even 1 prior time she's singled out an actress and/or production for a noise complaint.

If its so common, I have to stop and ask - why has the diva to end all divas never gone on similar public rants prior and why has she singled out this specific actress.

Like this is the woman who tore up her union card, its not like she's ever held her punches with the theatre community.

[Monstermilo 4,366]

51 minutes ago, Roughhouse Dandy said:

Patti did Evita. Madonna did Evita. Patti has said multiple times that Madonna "can't act her way out of a paper bag", "she's a movie killer" and she's "dead behind the eyes". She's doubled and tripled down and everytime she's asked about it she'll repeat it. She ate a "death wing" on her hot ones episode with Aubrey Plaza instead of fake apologizing 

where are the lies 

madonnas acting is mediocre just like her vocals

[Roughhouse Dandy 10,897]

46 minutes ago, Bronco said:

Honestly as a Madonna fan, she's right 

28 minutes ago, Monstermilo said:

where are the lies 

madonnas acting is mediocre just like her vocals

I've made it a point to keep it cute about Madonna so I can't join in on the fun, but...

[Ladle Ghoulash 21,686]

7 hours ago, Bronco said:

Honestly as a Madonna fan, she's right 

 

And on the wider thread topic - I felt a bit iffy about where the racialisation was at first.

But like - these noise complaints for theaters sharing walls are according to her own words pretty common. 

Now I love Lupone's diva strops and I can't think of even 1 prior time she's singled out an actress and/or production for a noise complaint.

If its so common, I have to stop and ask - why has the diva to end all divas never gone on similar public rants prior and why has she singled out this specific actress.

Like this is the woman who tore up her union card, it’s not like she's ever held her punches with the theatre community.

LuPone wasn’t the one who made the Hell’s Kitchen incident public. She made that comment to the theatre owner privately, the sound adjustments were made, Patti sent a thank you note and a bouquet of flowers to the sound team and management, then Lewis took to IG and essentially accused her of being racist; so in that context, especially given LuPone’s tendency to double down and stand her ground and given that she seems to have actually handled the issue that she was accused of being racist for pretty professionally, I can understand why she got defensive.

Edited May 31 by Ladle Ghoulash

[Bronco 9,795]

6 minutes ago, Ladle Ghoulash said:

LuPone wasn’t the one who made the Hell’s Kitchen incident public. She made that comment to the theatre owner privately, the sound adjustments were made, Patti sent a thank you note and a bouquet of flowers to the sound team and management, then Lewis took to IG and essentially accused her of being racist; so in that context, especially given LuPone’s tendency to double down and stand her ground and given that she seems to have actually handled the issue that she was accused of being racist for pretty professionally, I can understand why she got defensive.

Wait - I was under the impression that LuPone made the issue public through the New Yorker and that's when Lewis et al started responding and dragging her? 

That's how it read in the OP and I have only seen anything about this once it had already exploded so if the chronology is different then I withdraw my earlier comment.

[Ladle Ghoulash 21,686]

58 minutes ago, Bronco said:

Wait - I was under the impression that LuPone made the issue public through the New Yorker and that's when Lewis et al started responding and dragging her? 

That's how it read in the OP and I have only seen anything about this once it had already exploded so if the chronology is different then I withdraw my earlier comment.

Here’s the chronology if you’re interested

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/theater/patti-lupone-audra-mcdonald-kecia-lewis.html