Oprah was hyping up the theater scene at the 2025 Tony Awards — but some couldn’t help but feel as if she threw some major side-eye at Patti LuPone over her whole beef with fellow Broadway stars Kecia Lewis and Audra McDonald.
The talk show queen dropped this gem onstage: “Our celebration of this astounding year in live theater turns to the women whose work sparked lively conversations among theater fans.” Then, she shot the crowd a knowing look, adding, “Lotta talking going on!”
omg not Oprah Winfrey throwing shade at Patti LuPone while presenting at the Tony Awards lol pic.twitter.com/l7WvmA8Bev
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) June 9, 2025
@SpencerAlthouse
The crowd was cracking up at the joke — Oprah didn’t name names, but let’s be real, everyone was pretty convinced it was a dig at Patti, who certainly had everyone talking lately on the Broadway scene.
Oh, and to add some spice, Audra was in the crowd, nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical — the category Oprah was presenting. But, she lost out to Nicole Scherzinger for “Sunset Boulevard.”
Patti wasn’t in attendance, and whether she was going to show up was anyone’s guess, especially after the drama surrounding her recent New Yorker magazine profile. In it, she made some controversial comments about Audra and Kecia.
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PL called Kecia a “bitch” who “doesn’t know what the f*** she’s talking about” — in response to Kecia calling Patti’s complaints about her noisy music rehearsals as “micro aggressive.”
