The Broadway legend went off on Tuesday during a Q&A hosted by the American Theatre Wing.
Patti LuPone has strong feelings about how to properly wear face masks: wear them correctly or "get the f**k out!" The Broadway star made her stance crystal clear Tuesday during a post-Company performance Q&A session.
The 73-year-old actress and some of her co-stars had just finished performing and were set to take questions from audience members, but the session came to a screeching halt after LuPone went on an expletive-laced tirade after two theatergoers refused to wear their masks over their noses.
In video circulating around social media and taken by other audience members, LuPone can be heard and seen shouting, "That is the rule. If you don't want to follow the rules, get the f**k out!"
LuPone, who earlier this week was nominated for her eighth Tony Award, wasn't done.
"Who do you think you are, that you do not respect the people that are sitting around you?" she added. "Put your mask over your nose, that's why you're in the theater."
But according to those same videos, the recipients of LuPone's outburst were unmoved. The theatergoers refused to fix their face masks and shouted back, "I pay your salary," prompting LuPone to clap back, "You pay my salary? Bulls**t. [Producer] Chris Harper pays my salary."
LuPone, who battled COVID twice in February and March, continued pleading, "Who do you think you are? Just put your mask over your nose, we have worked really hard."
According to People, the audience members in question were ultimately kicked out, but at that point, LuPone was fed up because other audience members said she said, "F**k this" and stormed off the stage. Citing a source on the scene, the outlet reports LuPone had politely asked the patrons to lift their face masks several times before her tirade was caught on video.
"They just kept shaking their heads at her," the source told People. "That's when she hit a breaking point, taking the mic, stopping the panel, and demanding they follow the rules. These people were so rude."
ET has reached out to LuPone for comment. People obtained a statement from Harper via a spokesperson for Company, the Tony-nominated revival of Stephen Sondheim's play.
"Over the course of her storied career, Patti has always had an unshakable bond with the audience, and she takes their role as seriously as her own. She is also a fierce advocate for the entire theatrical workforce," the statement read. "We stand with Patti and support her efforts to keep our entire community -- from patrons to ushers, cast to stage crew -- safe and healthy so we can keep Broadway open."
What's more, Harper signed the statement with, "Chris Harper (the man who pays Patti LuPone's salary)."
While New York City's mask and vaccine mandate was lifted back in March, Broadway shows will continue strict COVID-19 safety protocols (which includes using face masks inside its theaters) until May 31.
It's not the first time LuPone's gone toe-to-toe with an audience member. Back in 2015, the Broadway legend grabbed a woman's phone from her hands during a performance, all without breaking character.
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