Theater legend Patti LuPone does not mince words, especially when she appears as a guest on Watch What Happens Live. During a previous stop by Andy Cohen’s talk show, the Beau Is Afraid star made headlines for calling Madonna mediocre in the Evita movie, famously saying the pop star was a “movie killer” who “cannot act her way out of a paper bag.” (LuPone, of course, originated the role on Broadway; she won her first of three Tony Awards for her performance.) This weekend, during her most recent WWHL appearance, LuPone set her sights on a different superstar who’s about to grace the screen: Kim Kardashian.
During a game called “Do! They! Give a Damn!?”, Cohen asked LuPone and fellow guest John Leguizamo whether they cared about different cultural news items. LuPone didn’t give a damn about Barbra Streisand’s memoir being over 1,000 pages long, nor did she give a damn about Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn’s recent breakup—but she certainly gave a damn that the second-eldest Kardashian is set to star in the 12th season of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story, subtitled Delicate.
“Yes. I. Do,” said LuPone through gritted teeth when Cohen asked if she gave a damn about Kardashian’s pivot to acting. “You don’t like it, do you?” Cohen said, in what might have been the understatement of the year. “No. I. Don’t,” said LuPone, explaining that she feels this way because Kardashian is taking a plum role away from a more deserving actor.
“Excuse me, Kim,” LuPone said. “What are you doing with your life? Don’t get on the stage, Mrs. Worthington.” Leave it to LuPone to deliver a withering read while referencing a devastating Noël Coward song from the 1930s. Leguizamo backed up LuPone, answering the Kardashian question by pointing to LuPone and stating, “Whatever she said, I double the emotion.”
Perhaps LuPone feels so strongly because she herself starred as cabaret singer Kathy Pizazz in season 11 of Murphy’s American Horror Story, subtitled NYC. Perhaps she feels so strongly because she’s dead right. In any case, we now know exactly how LuPone feels about both Kardashian’s first lead role and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bad Cinderella (for the record, she doesn’t give a damn). Imagine how many more hot takes we’ll get from Miss LuPone once her Oscar campaign for Beau Is Afraid begins in earnest.
