Patti LuPone has apologized for feedback she made about Audra McDonald and “Hell’s Kitchen” star Kecia Lewis in a latest New Yorker interview.
“For so long as I’ve labored in theatre, I’ve spoken my thoughts and by no means apologized,” LuPone wrote in an Instagram put up Saturday. “That’s altering immediately. I’m deeply sorry for the phrases I used throughout The New Yorker interview, notably about Kecia Lewis, which had been demeaning and disrespectful. I remorse my flippant and emotional responses throughout this interview, which had been inappropriate, and I’m devastated that my conduct has offended others and has run counter to what we maintain pricey on this group. I hope to have the prospect to talk to Audra and Kecia personally to supply my honest apologies.”
She continued, “I wholeheartedly agree with all the things that was written within the open letter shared yesterday. From center college drama golf equipment to skilled levels, theatre has all the time been about lifting one another up and welcoming those that really feel they don’t belong wherever else. I made a mistake, I take full duty for it, and I’m dedicated to creating this proper. Our whole theatre group deserves higher.”
The theater icon’s caustic remarks, during which she referred to as Lewis a “bitch” and acknowledged that there was a feud between her and McDonald, have rocked the Broadway group, with greater than 500 performers and artists calling on the Tony Awards in an open letter to disinvite LuPone.
Within the New Yorker piece, which was revealed on Could 26, LuPone addressed points that arose final fall when she was showing on Broadway in “The Roommate.” The Sales space Theatre, the place the present was carried out, shared a wall with the Shubert Theatre, the place the Alicia Keys musical “Hell’s Kitchen” was additionally being staged. LuPone complained to the top of the Shubert Group concerning the loud noises that she might hear from subsequent door, and despatched flowers to the solid and crew of “Hell’s Kitchen” when the quantity was lowered. However she was later criticized on social media by Lewis, who stated LuPone’s conduct was “bullying” and “racially microaggressive.” McDonald favored Lewis’ message.
When LuPone was requested by the New Yorker about Lewis’ put up, she questioned whether or not or not Lewis, who gained a Tony for “Hell’s Kitchen” and has appeared often on stage, was a Broadway veteran. In the identical interview she shaded McDonald’s work in “Gypsy,” taking over a task for which LuPone gained her second of three Tony Awards. McDonald has gained a record-setting six Tonys.
Within the letter, 500 performers, together with Tony winners James Monroe Iglehart, J. Harrison Ghee and Maleah Joi Moon, criticized LuPone’s feedback.
“No artist, producer, director, or chief — no matter legacy or movie star — ought to be allowed to weaponize their platform to belittle, threaten, or devalue others with out consequence,” the letter reads.
The open letter additionally faults LuPone for her “bullying” feedback about Lewis, calling them “degrading and misogynistic” in addition to “a blatant act of racialized disrespect.”
In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, McDonald addressed LuPone’s telling the New Yorker author that the pair weren’t pals.
“If there’s a rift between us, I don’t know what it’s,” McDonald stated. “That’s one thing you’d must ask Patti about. , I haven’t seen her in about 11 years, simply because we’ve been busy simply with life. So I don’t know what rift she’s speaking about, however you’d must ask her.”
LuPone has appeared on Broadway in “Evita,” “Battle Paint,” “Sweeney Todd,” and “Firm.” She has additionally made headlines over time for her candor, feuding with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Glenn Shut after she was handed over for the Broadway manufacturing of “Sundown Boulevard,” and branding Madonna, who starred within the movie model of “Evita,” as “a film killer.”