Patti LuPone condemned by over 500 Broadway artists for bullying Audra McDonald, Kecia Lewis

Break a leg.More than 500 Broadway artists signed an open letter slamming Patti LuPone over her recent comments against Audra McDonald and Kecia Lewis.The letter, which was written on behalf of the Broadway Theater Community on Friday, May 30, chastised LuPone, 76, for the flippant remarks she made about her fellow stage icons in an interview with The New Yorker published 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, read.“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 include Tony winners Maleah Joi Moon (“Hell’s Kitchen”), James Monroe Iglehart (“Aladdin”) and Wendell Pierce (“Radio Golf”).The more 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 first to share the document on Friday, and the letter added that the Broadway community can’t “co...