Gayle King stirs the pot between Audra McDonald and Patti LuPone after Broadway diva's brutal 'not a friend' swipe
Diva Patti LuPone dropped jaws earlier this week after she coldly revealed she doesn't consider fellow Broadway star Audra McDonald to be a friend.
But now Gayle King has waded into the drama as she boldly asked Audra about the cutthroat comment in an upcoming interview for CBS Mornings.
Despite insisting she didn't intend to 'start a Broadway dust-up' by asking the question, undoubtedly the remark will only stir the pot between the two.
A composed Audra, 54, insisted she was unaware of any drama between them and that she hadn't seen her former co-star, 76, in over a decade.
'Patti Lapone says about you, "Audra is not a friend"... I know there's a lot of back and forth. Were you surprised to hear that said about you from her?' Gayle, 70, asked. 'And I'm not trying to start a Broadway dust up here, but I'm wondering how you're processing.'
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As Gayle asked the question, the theater legend had a tight smile on her face but remained calm and collected.
'If there's a rift between us, I don't know what it is,' she replied. 'That's something that you'd have to ask Patti about.
'You know, I haven't seen her in about 11 years, just because we've been busy just with life and stuff. So I don't know what rift she's talking about, but you'd have to ask her.'
The clip was posted by CBS Mornings to their TikTok account where they clarified in the caption that the interview was 'scheduled before' Patti's comments about Audra went viral. Audra's entire interview will air next week.
Earlier this week the New Yorker published a profile on Patti where she declared Audra is 'not a friend anymore' - and hadn't been for some time.
The touchy topic was brought to the surface when Patti was asked about Audra performing in Gypsy, a musical she's closely associated with.
'When I asked what she had thought of McDonald's current production of Gypsy,' the publication's Michael Schulman wrote, LuPone 'stared at me, in silence, for fifteen seconds.
'Then she turned to the window and sighed, "What a beautiful day."'
Patti skewered multiple high-profile colleagues in a recent New Yorker profile where she declared Audra was 'not a friend anymore' - and hadn't been for some time. Pictured April 27 in NYC
MacDonald and LuPone pictured during rehearsal of Mahagonny at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in LA on January 30, 2007
LuPone also questioned the experience of Kecia Lewis, six months after Tony-award winning actress called her out for remarks she found 'offensive'
Patti also questioned the Broadway experience of Tony-award winning actress Kecia Lewis, who last year accused LuPone of making 'bullying' and 'racially microaggressive' comments about her show Hell's Kitchen.
Patti told the magazine in reaction: 'Oh, my God. 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*** she's talking about.'
She added, 'She's done seven. I've done thirty-one. Don't call yourself a vet, b****.' (The publication noted that Lewis has done 10 and LuPone 28.)
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