Break a leg.
Greater than 500 Broadway artists signed an open letter slamming Patti LuPone over her latest feedback towards Audra McDonald and Kecia Lewis.
The letter, which was written on behalf of the Broadway Theater Group on Friday, Might 30, chastised LuPone, 76, for the flippant remarks she made about her fellow stage icons in an interview with The New Yorker printed on Monday.
“Recently, Patti LuPone made deeply inappropriate and unacceptable public comments about two of Broadway’s most respected and beloved artists,” the letter, which was addressed to the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League, learn.
“This language is not only degrading and misogynistic – it is a blatant act of racialized disrespect,” the letter continued. “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.”
Some high-profile Broadway stars who signed the open letter embody Tony winners Maleah Joi Moon (“Hell’s Kitchen”), James Monroe Iglehart (“Aladdin”) and Wendell Pierce (“Radio Golf”).
The greater than 500 signatories described LuPone’s remarks as a “public affront to the values of collaboration, equity, and mutual respect that our theater community claims to uphold.”
“Let us be clear: this is about more than one person,” the letter continued. “It is about a culture. A pattern. A persistent failure to hold people accountable for violent, disrespectful, or harmful behavior – especially when they are powerful or well-known.”
“This is not about differing opinions,” the letter went on. “It is about public actions that demean, intimidate, or perpetuate violence against fellow artists. It is about the normalization of harm in an industry that too often protects prestige over people.”
Playbill was the primary to share the doc on Friday, and the letter added that the Broadway group can’t “continue to welcome back those who harm others simply because of their fame or perceived value.”
It additionally demanded an finish to the sort of habits that LuPone exhibited earlier this week.
“We will no longer tolerate violence – verbal, emotional, or physical – against artists within our own community,” the letter mentioned. “No more free passes. If our industry is truly committed to equity, justice, and respect, then those values must be applied consistently, even when it’s uncomfortable.”
“Especially when it’s uncomfortable,” the missive continued. “No artist, producer, director, or leader—regardless of legacy or celebrity—should be allowed to weaponize their platform to belittle, threaten, or devalue others without consequence. Period.”
The Put up has reached out to LuPone’s reps for remark.
The “Beau Is Afraid” actress first made headlines when she bashed McDonald and Lewis throughout her scathing sit-down with The New Yorker.
Whereas the “Agatha All Along” actress mentioned that McDonald, 54, was “not a friend,” she later referred to as Lewis, 59, a “bitch” who “doesn’t know what the f–k she’s talking about.”
“Oh, my God,” LuPone mentioned of the “Hell’s Kitchen” actress. “Here’s the problem. She calls herself a veteran? Let’s find out how many Broadway shows Kecia Lewis has done, because she doesn’t know what the f–k she’s talking about.”
“She’s done seven,” LuPone added. “I’ve done thirty-one. Don’t call yourself a vet, bitch.”
LuPone additionally focused Glenn Shut, 78, throughout the no holds barred interview, saying she wished to name her a “bitch” after Shut changed her within the Broadway debut of “Sunset Boulevard.”
McDonald later addressed LuPone’s vicious remarks in an interview with Gayle King on “CBS Mornings” Thursday.
The “Gilded Age” star mentioned she was “surprised” by her Broadway colleague’s feedback and didn’t “know what she’s talking about.”
“I mean, if there’s a rift between us, I don’t know what it is,” McDonald mentioned. “That’s something you’d have to ask Patti about.”
“I haven’t seen her in about 11 years because I’ve been busy with life and stuff,” she added. “So, I don’t know what rift she’s talking about. You’d have to ask her.”
