Tony Awards 2025: Why Fans Think Oprah Winfrey Shaded Patti LuPone Over Audra McDonald Controversy
Oprah Winfrey sparked speculation that she threw shade at Patti Lupone—whose recent comments about Audra McDonald raised eyebrows—while presenting at the 2025 Tony Awards.
Did Oprah Winfrey diss Patti Lupone at the 2025 Tony Awards? That’s certainly what fans think.
While presenting the Tony for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical June 8, the former talk show host seemingly alluded to Patti’s recent comments about Kecia Lewis and Audra McDonald, the latter of which was nominated in the category Oprah was presenting for her performance in Gypsy.
“This astounding year in live theater turns to the women whose work sparked lively conversations among theater fans,” she proclaimed as the audience at Radio City Music Hall started to murmur before she paused to knowingly look around the crowd with pursed lips. “Lotta talking going on!”
Viewers were quick to interpret the 71-year-old’s comments as being aimed at Patti, with one user posting the clip saying, “omg not Oprah Winfrey throwing shade at Patti LuPone while presenting at the Tony Awards lol.”
Another person wrote, “oprah giving patti shade i’m crying,” while a third viewer commented, “I’ve never seen someone say f–k you quite as spectacularly as Oprah just did to Patti LuPone.”
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Audra McDonald Responds to Patti LuPone’s Rift Claims
The controversy blew open after The New Yorker published an interview with Patti May 26 in which she told Kecia to not call herself a Broadway veteran and declared that Audra was “not a friend.” When asked what she thought of Audra’s current run as Rose in Gypsy—a role that Patti won a Tony for 17 years ago—Patti simply stared out the window for 15 seconds before simply turning to say, “What a beautiful day.”
Audra later shared that she was not aware that she and Patti even had a rift.
Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
“If there is a rift between us, I don’t know what it is,” she said during an interview with Gayle King on CBS Mornings May 29. “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.”
She added, “I don’t know what rift she’s talking about but you’d have to ask her.”
After more than 600 members of the Broadway community signed an open letter not only condemning Patti’s comments but also urging the Tony Awards to disinvite her from the ceremony (which she did not end up attending), the 76-year-old apologized for her “demeaning and disrespectful” words.
“I wholeheartedly agree with everything that was written in the open letter,” she wrote on social media May 31. “I am deeply sorry. 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.”
Patti added, “I hope to have the chance to speak to Audra and Kecia personally to offer my sincere apologies.”
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