Patti LuPone receives scathing open letter for ‘degrading’ comments about Kecia Lewis and Audra McDonald
More than 600 members of the Broadway community condemned Patti LuPone in an open letter Friday after the three-time Tony winner made controversial comments about fellow stars Kecia Lewis and Audra McDonald.
The letter, addressed to The American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League, comes in response to a profile published in The New Yorker this week in which LuPone called Lewis a “b—-” and McDonald “not a friend.”
“This language is not only degrading and misogynistic — it is a blatant act of racialized disrespect. It constitutes bullying. It constitutes harassment,” the letter says.
Theater publication Playbill reported signatories to the letter include Tony winners James Monroe Iglehart, Maleah Joi Moon and Wendell Pierce.
Lewis currently stars in “Hell’s Kitchen” on Broadway, for which she won a 2024 Tony Award. McDonald won the 2014 Tony Award for best actress in a play (her sixth) and is the first performer to win the award in all performance categories. She is nominated for the 11th time this year for her lead performance in the musical “Gypsy.”
As of Saturday, the letter had garnered 682 signatures, according to a document that allows people to request the addition of their names.
“Individuals, including Patti Lupone, who use their platform to publicly demean, harass, or disparage fellow artists — particularly with racial, gendered, or otherwise violent language — should not be welcomed at industry events, including the Tony Awards, fundraisers, and public programs,” the letter said.
The American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League — which present the Tony Awards, set to be held on June 8 — did not immediately respond to NBC News’ requests for comment. LuPone also did not immediately respond.
In the New Yorker interview, LuPone was asked about a controversy that circulated during her time co-starring in “The Roommate” with Mia Farrow last fall. The play, which has since closed, shared a wall with the Tony-winning musical “Hell’s Kitchen,” featuring Lewis.
LuPone reportedly asked for the sound design of “Hell’s Kitchen” to be adjusted because the music would bleed through the shared walls, and sent the sound and stage management team flowers and a thank-you note once it was fixed.
Lewis posted a video on Instagram in November in response, calling LuPone’s actions “racially microaggressive” and “rooted in privilege.”
Producers of “The Roommate” posted a statement the following day thanking the “Hell’s Kitchen” staff for the fix, saying, “These kinds of sound accommodations from one show to another are not unusual and are always deeply appreciated.”
LuPone said of the back-and-forth in The New Yorker interview: “Let’s find out how many Broadway shows Kecia Lewis has done, because she doesn’t know what the f— she’s talking about. … She’s done seven. I’ve done thirty-one. Don’t call yourself a vet, b—-.”
The New Yorker noted that Lewis has actually done 10 shows and LuPone 28.
Michael Schulman, the interviewer, mentioned to LuPone that McDonald — who holds the record as the Broadway performer with the most Tony Awards and nominations — gave the video “supportive emojis.”
The 76-year-old actor responded: “And I thought, ‘You should know better.’ That’s typical of Audra. She’s not a friend.”
McDonald was asked about LuPone’s comments in a “CBS Mornings” interview with Gayle King to discuss her latest Tony-nominated role as Mama Rose in “Gypsy.”
“If there’s a rift between us, I don’t know what it is,” McDonald said in a clip CBS shared on social media ahead of the full interview, which airs next week. “That’s something that you’d have to ask Patti about.”
The open letter said LuPone’s attempt to “discredit” McDonald’s legacy was not only a personal offense, but “a public affront to the values of collaboration, equity, and mutual respect that our theater community claims to uphold.”