Last week, the New Yorker published their profile of Patti LuPone, the 76-year-old musical theater legend, and legendary “difficult woman.” Nothing Patti said in that profile surprised me, because she’s always had the reputation as a sh-t talker and someone who loves to start fights within the acting/Broadway community. But it looks like a lot of people were shocked by LuPone’s comments in the New Yorker, especially her disparaging remarks about Glenn Close, Kecia Lewis and Audra McDonald. She referred to both Close and Lewis as “bitches” and she said that Audra was “not a friend.” Gayle King even got Audra on the record last week about LuPone, and Audra said “I haven’t seen her in about 11 years.” Well, things kept moving over the weekend. First off, over 500 people within the Broadway community signed an open letter to LuPone.
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.
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.”
The League and the Wing are the producers of the Tony Awards. While the League and the Wing have previously made clear that equity, diversity, and inclusion are part of their organizational values, they have shied away from establishing industry-wide rules or policy on the topic.
I fully understand why LuPone’s comments about Kecia Lewis and Audra McDonald were the straw that broke the camel’s back in this case, but I’m going to continue to point out that LuPone said some really horrible sh-t about Glenn Close too! Anyway, I’m glad that the Broadway community decided to stand up for Audra and Kecia, and stand against LuPone.
It looks like that letter was the thing which finally got through to LuPone as well. Never in her 76 years has LuPone ever backed down from a fight or a beef. But she backed down and issued a thorough apology for everything. LuPone said, in part: “I am deeply sorry for the words I used during The New Yorker interview, particularly about Kecia Lewis, which were demeaning and disrespectful. I regret my flippant and emotional responses during this interview, which were inappropriate, and I am devastated that my behavior has offended others and has run counter to what we hold dear in this community. I hope to have the chance to speak to Audra and Kecia personally to offer my sincere apologies….For as long as I have worked in the theater, I have spoken my mind and never apologized. That is changing today.” I’m including LuPone’s IG below. My question: how will the Tony Awards milk this drama? Do you think they’ll get Patti, Audra and Kecia on stage together?? But what about Glenn??
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
Bengali (Bangladesh) · 
English (United States) ·