In 2013, Madonna was caught furiously texting during the New York Film Festival premiere of '12 Years A Slave'. Photo: TNS
Former Hamilton star Anthony Ramos is calling out Madonna for being on her iPad the entire time she was in the audience of the Tony-winning Broadway hit.
While appearing on Watch What Happens Live this week, the Brooklynite, 33, exposed the Queen of Pop’s lack of etiquette after Andy Cohen asked him to identify “the most terrifying celebrity” he’d seen in the crowd during his run in Hamilton.
“The most terrifying was Madonna with an iPad in her face … the whole time,” recalled Ramos, who originated the roles of John Laurens and Philip Hamilton. “I was like, damn, shorty, if you’re not enjoying it that much, you know the door’s right there. You ain’t gotta stay here.”
In 2015, Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda — who also originated the role of the titular Founding Father — wrote in a since-deleted tweet that “tonight was the first time I asked stage management NOT to allow a celebrity (who was texting all through Act 2) backstage,” according to Playbill.com.
A source told the outlet at the time that Madge not only arrived late to the show, but used her phone multiple times during both acts.
The Hamilton incident came about a year-and-a-half after Madonna was caught furiously texting during the New York Film Festival premiere of 12 Years A Slave in 2013. In the wake of that incident, the Alamo Drafthouse cinema chain said she was banned from their theatres until she issued an apology to moviegoers.
However, Madonna might have mended her ways in the intervening years, having famously enacted a cellphone ban during her 2019 Madame X Tour.
“People loved it and appreciated it,” a promoter told London paper The Times. “They could just enjoy the show and interact with each other with nothing obstructing the view.”
A tour insider at the time also said Madonna was hoping to engender some “intimacy” by playing smaller venues for screen-free crowds. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
