This Week in Gossip (June 8)

Patti apologizes, Walton and Aimee are a-okay, Hugh Jackman’s losing the divorce battle, and Natasha Lyonne sells out to be an AI shill.

Patti LuPone Apologises For the First Time in Her Life (And It’s a Good Apology?!)

(Image via Giphy.)

A miracle has occurred. Patti LuPone apologised for something. This is up there with pigs flying in terms of things we never thought would happen. But after an interview where her usual candour resulted in her being pretty snide and dismissive of two beloved Broadway contemporaries, she faced unprecedented pushback from her own industry. So, even Patti knows when to eat crow.

LuPone was interviewed by The New Yorker about her career on stage and screen, as well as her many grudges. She was asked about an incident involving Kecia Lewis, the Tony-winning actress starring in Hell’s Kitchen. LuPone made a noise complaint about the show as it was in the theatre next door to the one she was performing in with the play The Roommate. The issue was resolved but Lewis then made a video calling out LuPone for what she saw as racist microaggressions. When asked about this, LuPone dismissed Lewis and claimed she wasn’t a veteran of the industry like she was. She was then asked about Audra McDonald, who showed public support for Lewis, and let the world know that she is no longer friends with the six-time Tony winner. It was a big showy display of divadom and it did not go down well.

Here’s her apology (via Instagram):

“For as long as I have worked in the theatre, I have spoken my mind and never apologized. That is changing today. I am deeply sorry for the words I used during The New Yorker interview, particularly about Kecia Lewis, which were 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. I hope to have the chance to speak to Audra and Kecia personally to offer my sincere apologies.

I wholeheartedly agree with everything that was written in the open letter shared yesterday. From middle school drama clubs to professional stages, theatre has always been about lifting each other up and welcoming those who feel they don't belong anywhere else. I made a mistake, I take full responsibility for it, and I am committed to making this right. Our entire theatre community deserves better.”

This came one day after more than 500 members of the Broadway community signed an open letter reprimanding her. Yup. 500.

Honestly, I am surprised she issued this apology. If I expected anyone to dig their heels into the ground so far that they’d reach the Earth’s molten core, it would be Patti. She burns bridges and sets the river alight. She’s famous for her grudges. Hell, I’d argue that she’s beloved for them. That New Yorker interview that kicked off this mess even described her as a kind of “folk hero” for her scathing one-liners and feuds against people like Madonna and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Theatre loves a diva and Patti is a legendary one. But even divas cross the line, and clearly the industry she calls home (and has claimed she no longer wants to be involved with) decided she’d crossed it. An open letter signed by literally hundreds of your contemporaries calling you a sh*t probably didn’t go down well.

But I also could have seen her ignoring it since, let’s be honest, it wasn’t a petition signed by any of the major names in Broadway or people LuPone would consider her equals. Then again, many of the people she would describe as such did show explicit solidarity on social media with both Lewis and McDonald, like Donna Murphy. If we needed any further proof that Audra is the most liked person on the Great White Way then this was it. Going after her must have felt like seeing someone try to start a fist-fight with Mr. Rogers.

It's easy to be cynical about celebrity apologies because most of them are, well, crap. We all know the routine: the Notes App screenshot routine, the passive language, the inability to confront the actual problem at hand. Even apologies that don’t suck are viewed with scorn because it often feels like too little too late, or we assign all of the work to the publicist behind the curtain.

Still, I am inclined to give LuPone some credit here. This is not a Patti-esque apology in terms of tone or language. If it were, it wouldn’t be an apology. She doesn’t try to justify her snark or nastiness. She just takes the blame and says sorry. She admitted that she crossed a line and wants to do better. Some will see it as a harried attempt to mend those bridges in time for the Tony Awards (she’s not nominated but her co-star Mia Farrow is), but hey, maybe even LuPone is capable of penitence. It’s humbling to realize that your well-worn diva branding can’t shield you from your own stupidity.

Did a publicist write it? Probably. But pretty much every celebrity has a publicist and this is why you pay them the big bucks. Most of us, famous or not, are not great at apologizing well, especially if we know that potentially millions of people are going to read and judge it. LuPone will have contributed to the writing of it but that doesn’t make the involvement of a third party a sinister element. It will definitely leave some feeling cold, of course. It’s a reminder that all of this is a business move. LuPone wants to go to the Emmys, she wants to keep winning awards and being beloved.

The apology is Lewis and McDonald’s to accept or dismiss. I don’t expect either to drag things out any further, if only because LuPone was giving herself enough rope for the hanging. McDonald was asked about the furore during a CBS interview and she offered a very magnanimous response that was the classy version of Mariah Carey’s “I don’t know her” moment. It was very funny. That’s how it’s done, kids.

Brad Pitt is Back on the Press Tour Cycle; Brad Pitt Still Sucks

(Image via Frinkiac.)

And then there’s this asshole.

Brad Pitt is back on the promotional circuit for F1, a big flashy action film about Formula 1 racing that’s not exactly a Top Gun: Maverick remake but comes pretty damn close to it. This means we’re getting more tacky photoshoots and interviews with this loser as he tries to make himself a bona-fide A-List box office star and find even more excuses to fling Angelina Jolie under the bus.