What did Patti LuPone say about Audra McDonald? Thespian reportedly skips 2025 Tony Awards after Broadway drama

76-year-old actress, Patti LuPone, is in the middle of a controversy. LuPone, in her May 26 New Yorker profile, allegedly made offensive comments about six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald and Kecia Lewis.

In 2024, LuPone was in a two-woman play, The Roommate, a show which shared a wall with the theater showing Hell's Kitchen, a jukebox musical starring Kecia Lewis. LuPone had asked Hell's Kitchen to address the musical noise issue, which reportedly was so loud, it could be heard through the walls. Kecia took to Instagram in November 2024, with an open letter, responding to LuPone, while calling her actions "bullying", "offensive," and "racially microaggressive."

When asked about the incident by the New Yorker writer, Michael Schulman, LuPone said,

"Oh, my God. Here's the problem. She calls herself a veteran? Let's find out how many broadway shows Kecia has done, because she doesn't know what the (expletive) she's talking about."

After further alleged insults, when Schulman, brought up Audra McDonald's "supportive emojis" to Kecia's post, Lupone went on to comment on the actress and her Tony-nominated portrayl of Rose in Gypsy, saying,

"Exactly. And I thought, you should know better. That's typical of Audra. She's not a friend" - hard "D".

Later, McDonald appeared in an interview with CBS Mornings, where host Gayle King asked the actress about her reaction to LuPone's comments, to which McDonald said,

"If there's a rift between us, I don't know what it is. That's something you'd have to ask Patti about. I haven't seen her in about 11 years just because we've been busy just with life and stuff, so I don't know what rift she's talking about. So you'd have to ask her."

Patti LuPone skips 2025 Tony Awards after apologizing for harsh comments against Audra McDonald

After the Broadway community was made aware of Patti LuPone's comments against Audra McDonald and Kecia Lewis, more than 500 actors from around the Broadway industry signed and published an open letter on May 30, condemning LuPone's comments as "degrading and misogynistic" and "a blatant act of racialized disrespect."

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Patti LuPone, in turn, posted a public apology on social media, where she said that she's "deeply sorry" for the words she used in the The New Yorker profile. She also expressed her desire to speak to Audra McDonald and Kecia Lewis to personally offer her "sincere apologies."

However, despite her apologies and her acknowledgement of her actions, the star skipped the 2025 Tony Awards.

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