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Gossip & rumors: oprah winfrey shades patti lupone over audra

GOSSIP & RUMORS: Oprah Winfrey shades Patti LuPone over Audra McDonald drama at 2025 Tony Awards

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Oprahโ€™s got jokes.

Oprah Winfrey took the stage at the 2025 Tony Awards on Sunday and appeared to shade Patti LuPone for her drama with Audra McDonald.

As she presented the award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, the category in which McDonald, 54, was nominated, Winfrey, 71, told the audience, โ€œOur celebration of this astounding year in live theater turns to the women whose work sparked lively conversations among theater fans.โ€

Oprah Winfrey onstage at the 2025 Tony Awards on June 8. Charles Sykes/Invision/AP

Winfrey then paused, shot a knowing look at the crowd as they laughed, and added, โ€œLotta talking going on!โ€

McDonald was in the audience for Winfreyโ€™s comment. She lost the Leading Actress in a Musical award to โ€œSunset Boulevardโ€ star Nicole Scherzinger.

LuPone, meanwhile, did not attend the Tonys. She was not nominated this year, but her โ€œThe Roomateโ€ co-star Mia Farrow was nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.

Audra McDonald attends the 2025 Tony Awards. FilmMagic
Patti LuPone at the โ€œAgatha All Alongโ€ launch event in Los Angeles in September 2024. Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock

Spencer Althouse, BuzzFeedโ€™s editorial director, shared a clip of Winfreyโ€™s speech on X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, โ€œOmg notย Oprah Winfreyย throwing shade at Patti LuPone while presenting at the Tony Awards lol.โ€

Other fans pointed out that Winfreyโ€™s line, โ€œLotta talking going on,โ€ is from Beyoncรฉโ€™s song โ€œAmerican Requiem.โ€

โ€œand quoting ameriican requiem exactlyyyy,โ€ one fan tweeted.

Audra McDonald and Oprah Winfrey pose backstage at โ€œLady Day at Emersonโ€™s Bar and Grillโ€ on Broadway in May 2014. FilmMagic

โ€œand the ending?! ohhhh AMERIICAN REQUIIEM your power,โ€ another fan said.



A third person wrote, โ€œis that American Requiem iโ€™m hearing?!!โ€

Last month, LuPone, 76, sparked controversy for bashing fellow Broadway stars McDonald and Kecia Lewis in an interview withย The New Yorker.

Patti LuPone attends the New York screening of โ€œAnother Simple Favorโ€ in April 2025. FilmMagic

The โ€œAgatha All Alongโ€ actress said that McDonaldย was โ€œnot a friendโ€ and called Lewis, 59, a โ€œb-tchโ€ who โ€œdoesnโ€™t know what the fโ€“k sheโ€™s talking about.โ€

โ€œOh, my God,โ€ LuPone said of the โ€œHellโ€™s Kitchenโ€ actress. โ€œHereโ€™s the problem. She calls herself a veteran? Letโ€™s find out how many Broadway shows Kecia Lewis has done, because she doesnโ€™t know what the fโ€“k sheโ€™s talking about. Sheโ€™s done seven. Iโ€™ve done thirty-one. Donโ€™t call yourself a vet, b-tch.โ€

Audra McDonald performs at the 2025 Tony Awards. Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
Kecia Lewis in an Instagram video from November 2024. Instagram / @therealkecialewis

Following LuPoneโ€™s comments, more than 500 Broadway artistsย signed an open letterย slamming the actress.

โ€œThis language is not only degrading and misogynistic โ€“ it is a blatant act of racialized disrespect,โ€ the letter read. โ€œIt 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.โ€

Audra McDonald and Patti LuPone at the Drama Leagueโ€™s 27th Annual All-Star Benefit Gala in NYC in 2011. FilmMagic

LuPone apologized for her comments in an Instagram statement on May 31, calling her words โ€œdemeaning and disrespectful.โ€



โ€œI 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,โ€ she stated. โ€œI hope to have the chance to speak to Audra and Kecia personally to offer my sincere apologies.โ€

Patti LuPoneโ€™s apology.

LuPone added, โ€œI wholeheartedly agree with everything that was written in theย open letterย shared yesterday. I made a mistake, I take full responsibility for it, and I am committed to making this right. Our entire theatre community deserves better.โ€

Audra McDonald during her interview on CBS Mornings. CBS Sunday Morning/Instagram

McDonald, for her part, was asked about LuPoneโ€™s comments in an interview with Gayle King on โ€œCBS Morningsโ€ before LuPone issued her apology.

โ€œIf thereโ€™s a rift between us, I donโ€™t know what it is,โ€ said McDonald.

โ€œThatโ€™s something youโ€™d have to ask Patti about,โ€ the โ€œGypsyโ€ star continued. โ€œYou know, I havenโ€™t seen her in about 11 years just because weโ€™ve been busy just with life. So I donโ€™t know what rift sheโ€™s talking about, but youโ€™d have to ask her.โ€





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