Patti LuPone issued an apology to fellow Broadway actors Kecia Lewis and Audra McDonald over the weekend after her earlier comments on both women drew heated backlash from the theater community.
The three-time Tony Award winner shared a statement on her social media platforms Saturday in which she said she was “deeply sorry” for the “demeaning and disrespectful” words she’d used, particularly toward Lewis, in a controversial interview with The New Yorker published last week.
“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,” she wrote. “I hope to have the chance to speak to Audra and Kecia personally to offer my sincere apologies.”
LuPone’s apology came a day after the release of an open letter addressed to the American Theatre Wing and the Broadway League calling for the “Agatha All Along” actor to be disinvited from this year’s Tony Awards, set to take place June 8, over what the authors described as “a blatant act of racialized disrespect” toward Lewis and McDonald, who are Black.
The letter had been signed by more than 600 members of the Broadway community, including Tony-winning actors James Monroe Iglehart and Maleah Joi Moon.
In her statement, LuPone said she agreed with the content of the letter, noting: “From middle school drama clubs to professional stages, theatre has always been about lifting each other up and welcoming those who feel they don’t belong anywhere else.”
“I made a mistake, I take full responsibility for it, and I am committed to making this right,” she added. “Our entire theatre community deserves better.”
LuPone’s interview with The New Yorker had been intended to promote her forthcoming appearance on the “Sex and the City” revival series, “And Just Like That…,” which debuted its third season on Thursday.
In the chat, LuPone was asked about a 2024 incident in which she’d complained about sound cues from the Alicia Keys musical “Hell’s Kitchen” being audible in a neighboring theater which housed “The Roommate,” her most recent play. Around the same time, a video in which LuPone blasted “Hell’s Kitchen,” which features a predominantly Black cast, for being “too loud” went viral on TikTok.
Lewis, who won a Tony last year for her performance in “Hell’s Kitchen,” criticized LuPone’s actions at the time, calling them “racially microaggressive” and “rooted in privilege” in a lengthy Instagram video that McDonald responded to with supportive emojis.
When The New Yorker asked LuPone about the debacle, she deemed Lewis a “bitch” and suggested the actor ― who has appeared in “Dreamgirls” and “Once on This Island,” among other hit musicals ― had no right to call herself a Broadway “veteran.”
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She offered a similar rebuke when asked about McDonald’s support of the video. “That’s typical of Audra. She’s not a friend,” she said, while alluding to what the outlet described as a “years-ago rift.”
In a teaser for her appearance on “CBS Mornings” to promote her Tony-nominated performance in “Gypsy,” however, McDonald suggested that any sort of rift LuPone felt was one-sided.
“I haven’t seen her in about 11 years just because we’ve been busy, just with life and stuff,” she said in the interview, set to air in full next week. “So I don’t know what rift she’s talking about, but you’d have to ask her.”
