Oprah Winfrey shaded Patti LuPone during Sunday’s Tony Awards 2025 after the Broadway star blasted nominees Audra McDonald and Kecia Lewis.
When the former talk show host took the stage Sunday to announce the Best Actress in a Musical winner, she alluded to the controversy sparked by the category.
“This outstanding year in live theater turns to the women whose work sparked lively conversations among theater fans …” she said before pausing and looking around the room, which had burst out laughing, with a knowing look.
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
“Lotta talking going on,” the Oscar winner continued, referencing a line from Beyoncé’s “American Requiem” song off her “Cowboy Carter” album.
This quip was met with more laughter — and social media praise.
“Loved it. 70-year-old Oprah gives zero f–ks,” one X user wrote over the weekend, while another applauded her for quoting Beyoncé, 43, “exactly” in the diss.
LuPone’s rep has yet to respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
The “Evita” star, notably, made headlines last month for blasting McDonald and Lewis in a May New Yorker interview.
She insisted that the former is “not a friend” and referred to the latter as a “bitch.”
McDonald, 54, subsequently appeared on “CBS Mornings” and said, “If there’s a rift between us, I don’t know what it is. That’s something you’d have to ask Patti about.”
That same week, over 500 Broadway artists issued an open letter against Lupoe’s comments.
Sheryl Lee Ralph went on to chide LuPone, 76, in a Page Six interview earlier this month, telling the “American Horror Story” alum to “zip it.”
In LuPone’s backpedaling apology, she admitted to feeling “deeply sorry” over the “demeaning and disrespectful” interview.
“I am devastated that my behavior has offended others and has run counter to what we hold dear in this community,” she wrote.
“I hope to have the chance to speak with Audra and Kecia personally to offer my sincere apologies.
“I made a mistake, I take full responsibility for it, and I am committed to making this right,” LuPone concluded. “Our entire theater community deserves better.”
While McDonald lost out on Sunday’s award to Nicole Scherzinger for “Sunset Blvd,” she did wow Tony attendees with a performance from “Gypsy.”
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