Oprah Winfrey seemingly shades Patti LuPone over Audra McDonald controversy at the 2025 Tony Awards
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, 'Our celebration of this astounding year in live theater turns to the women whose work sparked lively conversations among theater fans.'
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10 Oprah Winfrey on stage 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, 'Lotta talking going on!'
McDonald was in the audience for Winfrey's comment. She lost the Leading Actress in a Musical award to 'Sunset Boulevard' star Nicole Scherzinger.
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LuPone, meanwhile, did not attend the Tonys. She was not nominated this year, but her 'The Roomate' co-star Mia Farrow was nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play.
10 Audra McDonald attends the 2025 Tony Awards.
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10 Patti LuPone at the 'Agatha All Along' launch event in Los Angeles in Sept. 2024.
Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock
Spencer Althouse, BuzzFeed's editorial director, shared a clip of Winfrey's speech on X (formerly Twitter) and wrote, 'Omg not Oprah Winfrey throwing shade at Patti LuPone while presenting at the Tony Awards lol.'
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Other fans pointed out that Winfrey's line, 'Lotta talking going on,' is from Beyoncé's song 'American Requiem.'
'and quoting ameriican requiem exactlyyyy,' one fan tweeted.
10 Audra McDonald and Oprah Winfrey pose backstage at 'Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill' on Broadway in May 2014.
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'and the ending?! ohhhh AMERIICAN REQUIIEM your power,' another fan said.
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A third person wrote, 'is that American Requiem i'm hearing?!!'
Last month, LuPone, 76, sparked controversy for bashing fellow Broadway stars McDonald and Kecia Lewis in an interview with The New Yorker.
10 Patti LuPone attends the New York screening of 'Another Simple Favor' in April 2025.
FilmMagic
The 'Agatha All Along' actress said that McDonald was 'not a friend' and called Lewis, 59, a 'b-tch' who 'doesn't know what the f–k she's talking about.'
'Oh, my God,' LuPone said of the 'Hell's Kitchen' actress. 'Here's the problem. She calls herself a veteran? Let's find out how many Broadway shows Kecia Lewis has done, because she doesn't know what the f–k she's talking about. She's done seven. I've done thirty-one. Don't call yourself a vet, b-tch.'
10 Audra McDonald performs at the 2025 Tony Awards.
Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
10 Kecia Lewis in an Instagram video from Nov. 2024.
Instagram / @therealkecialewis
Following LuPone's comments, more than 500 Broadway artists signed an open letter slamming the actress.
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'This language is not only degrading and misogynistic – it is a blatant act of racialized disrespect,' the letter read. '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.'
10 Audra McDonald and Patti LuPone at the Drama League'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 'demeaning and disrespectful.'
'I 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,' she stated. 'I hope to have the chance to speak to Audra and Kecia personally to offer my sincere apologies.'
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10 Patti LuPone's apology.
LuPone added, 'I wholeheartedly agree with everything that was written in the open letter 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.'
10 Audra McDonald during her interview on CBS Mornings.
CBS Sunday Morning/Instagram
McDonald, for her part, was asked about LuPone's comments in an interview with Gayle King on 'CBS Mornings' before LuPone issued her apology.
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'If there's a rift between us, I don't know what it is,' said McDonald.
'That's something you'd have to ask Patti about,' the 'Gypsy' star continued. 'You know, I haven't seen her in about 11 years just because we've been busy just with life. So I don't know what rift she's talking about, but you'd have to ask her.'
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