Rihanna Debacle Shows That Broadway Insiders Display Double Standard For Celebrities

Does Celebrity Bad Behavior Get A Pass On Broadway?

Celebrities are often given free reign to act poorly in public and this ultimately allows them to feel superior to common folk and they become conditioned to believe that they are not obliged to follow basic societal norms. Sycophants with a celebrity crush often pander to a celebrity's every whim and desire and this just makes the arrogance of said celebrity even worse for everyone else to bear.

It is this personification of arrogance that occurred this past weekend at the John Golden Theatre in NYC, where pop and hip-hop star Rihanna appeared to act like an out-of-control brat, but she is not entirely to blame as she was wholeheartedly egged on by the shows' much-maligned Playwright, Jeremy O. Harris.

Broadway Etiquette Basics

Everyone knows the simple rules of attending Broadway theatre: get to the theatre on time, do not make any absurd noises or distractions during the show and keep your cell phone off and out of sight during the entirety of the performance. If caught using a cell phone during a Broadway show, a theatre usher will come over and ask the audience member to put their phone away or step out of the theatre.

In some extreme cases, audience members who refuse to put their phones away are escorted out of the theatre by the theatre security. Here’s the question, why do some celebrities get away with it breaking these simple rules? Why should people, who spent huge sums of money on their tickets, have to put up with idiot celebrities and their outrageous public antics?

What Happened With Rihanna At Slave Play?

The Barbados-born pop and hip-hop singer, Rihanna was apparently “running late” to see Slave Play on Sunday September 15th at the John Golden Theatre and the show was scheduled to start its performance at 8 o’clock sharp. With a full house and an excited crowd, the show was forced to be delayed 30 minutes by the shows’ playwright, Jeremy O. Harris, who held the curtain call and kept the theatre doors open until the tardy pop singer finally showed up.

Rihanna made it into the theatre and was sitting comfortably in her seat before the actors were allowed to go on.. Being late is one thing, but when the audience members then saw Rihanna using her cell phone to text her potential baby-daddy, they were pissed. She then texted back and forth with O. Harris during the show thanking him for waiting as well as allegedly texting a few other big name celebrities to let them know she is back in the Big Apple and ready to mingle.

Slave Playwright Jeremy O'Harris Texts During His Own Play!

O. Harris made the situation even worse by responding to Rihanna during the show and Slave Play then became a perverse reverse-racism dig at the mostly white audience that paid their big bucks to make themselves feel better about their whole white privilege guilt. The stars actions were seen as rude by the rest of the audience in the theatre and speak to a bigger problem facing Broadway today, should celebrities just be banned from Broadway?

Many people in the audience had made plans for later that night and had paid hundreds of dollars each to see this hot show, not to wait for Rihanna to show up when she could be bothered. The fact that she didn't even pay for her tickets is undeniably bad. Debate broke out later that night on Twitter, with O. Harris defending his actions from many Broadway critics.

Rihanna regarded as Greek god

He compared the pop star to the likes of the demi-god, Dionysus (the greek god of wine, partying and drunkenness). “When Dionysus is coming, you hold the curtain.” Many people thought that he was just fawning over her and that there was no real rhyme or reason for his actions.

Others felt that it was en eff-you to all the white people that had come to see his show. Other show producers have indicated that they will not put up with the poor behavior of celebrities on Broadway, as they often only support the arts when it is convenient to them and they detract the attention away from the show and on to themselves any opportunity they get.

Other Bad Behavior Broadway Celebrity Situations

Both music industry legends, Madonna and Kanye West, have been called out in the past for their Broadway show phone usage right in the middle of the show. Even after the reminder to turn phones off during the Broadway performance, which is stated before every Broadway show starts, celebrities do not feel this applies to them - that is if they even turn up early enough to even be seated before the curtain goes up.

Madonna gets put on blast

Madonna was famously banned from Broadway’s Hamilton by the writer, actor and producer, Lin-Manuel Miranda on April 18th 2015. Miranda, who was performing in the show that night, as well as other Hamilton audience members, reported that they were distracted by the bright white light from a phone that shined on her face for over half of the performance and it was clear that it was in fact Madonna using her phone to live stream with her boyfriend.

After the show, Miranda, then called her out on twitter and banned her attending the show ever again because he was so upset with her.

Kanye live-streaming Cher Show

Kanye West was called out for using his phone during a Broadway performance, as it appeared that he was live streaming and tweeting like an idiot during two of the big show numbers. This all happened on opening night of The Cher Show. Eventually Jarrod Spector tweeted at Kanye from backstage and told him that all of the on-stage-actors can see him on his phone, to get him to put his phone away, which he finally did.

On Monday September 2nd, it was reported that Tom Hiddleston, the supporting actor in Betrayal on Broadway, was brought to tears during his performance as one person's cell phone rang four times during one of his bigger scenes that night. It is alleged that Hiddleston later remarked how much he “hates morons that use their phones in the theatre”.

How Can Broadway Stop Celebrity Antics and Cell Phone Use in the Future?

The problem is that Broadway ushers are too busy fawning over celebrities and care little about the fact that their antics are ruining other peoples live experience of the theatre. This is because the amount of interest that one dumb tweet from a celebrity can make (or break) a Broadway show, so It may be up to the masses to police it for themselves.

Audience members often consider rebuking celebrities that annoy the other theatre-goers. They figure If they stand up and shout at them, they will then stop as subtle gestures no longer work for celebrity narcissists like Rihanna, Madonna and Kanye West who really only care about themselves.