‘The View’ hosts defend actress going off on audience member for not wearing mask: ‘Broadway suffered so much’

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'The View' hosts defend Patti LuPone after actress was seen yelling at an audience member for not wearing a mask

The hosts of ABC's "The View" defended Broadway star Patti LuPone on Thursday after the actress was seen yelling at an audience member for not properly wearing a mask.

The hosts of ABC's "The View" defended Patti LuPone on Thursday after the actress was seen publicly berating an audience member for not wearing their mask properly. 

LuPone was heard yelling at an audience member to pull their mask up over their nose during a filmed conversation that followed a performance of the show "Company," hosted by The American Theatre Wing. 

Whoopi Goldberg agreed with LuPone's profanity-laced rant and said, "Put the mask over your nose!" 

"You don't want to infect the people on stage who are not wearing masks," she continued. "Just do it right." 

BROADWAY START PATTI LUPONE INVOLVED IN F-WORD RANT WITH MASKLESS AUDIENCE MEMBER DURING ‘COMPANY’ PERFORMANCE

LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS -- Episode 1234 -- Pictured: (l-r) Actress Patti LuPone during an interview with host Seth Meyers on December 13, 2021 -- (Photo by: Lloyd Bishop/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

Co-host Sara Haines said that wearing a mask was a form of "basic respect" and the alternative would be returning to isolation. 

Co-host Sunny Hostin criticized those who wanted a return to normal, saying that wearing a mask was a "simple ask" that it was a "lack of civility" and a "lack of kindness." Hostin praised The View's live audience, who were all wearing masks, and said "because we don't have them on, you guys are protecting us." 

Guest host Alyssa Farah noted that "no one likes wearing a mask." 

"But our grandparents stormed the beaches of Normandy, you can put a little cloth over your face," she continued. "And Broadway suffered so much under COVID. Finally, to be able to have it back, we need it. I think everyone needs the theater, it’s what our country needs right now." 

Whoopi Goldberg and her co-hosts defends Patti LuPone on "The View." (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)

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"And it says, when you go in, ‘Put your mask on,’" Goldberg chimed in. "The people walk up and down the aisle with little signs saying, ‘Put your mask on!’"

The audience member fired back at LuPone, and said, "I pay your salary." The Broadway actress fired back, saying, "Bulls---! [Producer)] Chris Harper pays my salary!"

Joy Behar complained earlier in the segment that the theatergoer's reaction was "another example of the audience feeling that they can participate in the show."

"This is just a verbal abuse, but we know from what we have been talking about for weeks here about people going up to comedians and others and just doing – just smacking them when they don’t like what they are saying. This is the same," Behar continued. 

FILE - Pedestrians wearing protective masks walk along Broadway in the SoHo district of New York, Friday, March 4, 2022. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

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"Who do you think you are? That you do not respect the people that are sitting around you!" LuPone said to the audience member. 

Broadway dropped its COVID-19 vaccine mandate at the end of April. However, it kept its mask mandate in place until the end of May, according to CBS News. The Broadway League will revaluate extending required masking at the end of the month.