Woman Accused of Microaggressions Disputes Claims With…More Microaggressions
In a new interview with the New Yorker, Patti LuPone insinuated Kecia Lewis isn't a "veteran" of Broadway and insulted Audra McDonald.
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At Patti LuPone’s best, she’s discussing the death of democracy or dodging death wings and dragging Kim Kardashian’s attempts at acting. But at Patti LuPone’s worst? She’s doubling down on her many microaggressions during an interview with the New Yorker.
On Monday, the magazine published a sit-down with the three-time Tony winner in which she delivered a diatribe on everything from what contributes to New York City traffic: “the arrogance of the people in the streets”; what’s become of the Kennedy Center: “it should get blown up”; and her reputation as a diva: “I know that I’m box-office. Don’t nickel-and-dime me before you put me onstage.” Overall, it’s an equal parts enthralling and truly enraging conversation to read. At one point, for instance, LuPone interrupts her own conversation with writer Michael Schulman to reprimand two fellow diners at a restaurant for speaking too loudly.
However, the most egregious part of the interview arrived when Schulman asked LuPone about her documented complaint that Hell’s Kitchen, Alicia Keys’ Tony-winning musical (which then shared a wall with the theater where LuPone was starring in The Roommate opposite Mia Farrow), was “too loud.” In November 2024, a fan-recorded video of LuPone rudely refusing to sign a theater-goer’s Hell’s Kitchen playbill at the stage door because the show was “too loud” began circulating. In response, one of the show’s stars, Kecia Lewis, posted a video on Instagram in which she called on LuPone to apologize for her “bullying,” “offensive,” “racially micro-aggressive,” “rude,” and “rooted in privilege” behavior. She also shared that LuPone called Robert Wankel, the head of the Shubert Organization, and asked that he, as Schulman wrote, “fix the noise problem.”
“In our industry, language holds power and shapes perception, often in ways that we may not immediately realize,” Lewis explained. “Referring to a predominantly Black Broadway show as loud can unintentionally reinforce harmful stereotypes, and it also feels dismissive of the artistry and the voices that are being celebrated on stage. Comments like these can be seen as racial micro-aggressions, which have a real impact on both artists and audiences.”