A Broadway star has slammed Madonna for her behaviour in the audience while she attended a Hamilton performance a decade ago.
The Hung Up singer, 66, has been criticised in a new interview by actor Anthony Ramos, 33, who starred in the original 2015 cast of Hamilton.
Anthony played the dual role of John Laurens and Phillip Hamilton in the hit Broadway musical, created and written by Oscar nominee Lin-Manuel Miranda.
In the play, Phillip, the titular character Alexander Hamilton’s son, is tragically killed in a duel. It’s one of the more emotional moments of the historical story.
However, one audience member who was apparently unmoved during the show was the Queen of Pop herself, with Anthony calling her out in fresh comments.
Speaking to Watch What Happens Live, the Broadway star revealed he was left feeling particularly unhappy by one aspect of the Hung Up hitmaker’s behaviour.
He was asked by the show’s host Andy Cohen, ‘Who was the most terrifying celebrity to spot in the audience during your Hamilton days?’ and he didn’t mince words.
‘The most terrifying was Madonna with her iPad in her face. She was like this the whole time,’ he replied, as he mimicked holding a tablet device in his hands.
He continued: ‘I was like, “Damn, shorty. If you’re not enjoying [the show] that much, you know the door’s right there. You ain’t gotta stay here.”‘
The tale drew awkward laughs from host Andy and a few members of the live studio audience, with Anthony’s frank response catching a few people off guard.
In 2015, Lin-Manuel himself tweeted: ‘Tonight was the first time I asked stage management NOT to allow a celebrity (who was texting all through Act 2) backstage. No selfie for you.’
Fans instantly began speculating as to who the celebrity could be, which resulted in Lin-Manuel taking the tweet down, and another tweet from someone in the audience only fuelled those fires further.
Casey Erin Clark, a stage performer and singer, said: ‘That time you want to smack Madonna upside the head for texting during the best show I’ve ever seen.’
Jonathan Groff, 40, who played King George III, said he was not disappointed at all that Madonna had allegedly been disinvited from any backstage parties.
‘That b***h was on her phone,’ he said to Dot249. ‘You couldn’t miss it from the stage. It was a black void of the audience in front of us and her face there perfectly lit by the light of her iPhone.’
Months after the incident, Jonathan insisted that the Die Another Day singer had been using her device ‘through three quarters of the show’.
At the time, Madonna’s publicist stated to Us Weekly that the rumours about the Papa Don’t Preach singer were not true: ‘It’s not true. She was invited backstage four different times.
‘She texted post-show when they were doing their fundraising pitch. Madonna had already made a generous donation.’
Metro has reached out to Madonna for comment.
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