Called Out On Twitter, Kanye West Apologises For Using Phone During Broadway Show: 'Please Pardon My Lack Of Etiquette'

Kanye West was apparently paying too much attention to his phone during opening night of Broadway's The Cher Show - and one of the musical's performers let him know it.

Jarrod Spector, who plays Sonny Bono in the production, called West out on Twitter. "If you look up from your cellphone you'll see we're doing a show up here," he wrote. "It's opening night. Kind of a big deal for us." Spector sent his tweet about an hour into the production, according to the New York Times.

Hey @kanyewest so cool that you're here at @TheCherShow! If you look up from your cell phone you'll see we're doing a show up here. It's opening night. Kind of a big deal for us. Thanks so much.

— Jarrod Spector (@jarrodspector) December 4, 2018

The rapper certainly isn't the first audience member to get called out for having his cellphone out during a show. In 2015, Madonna earned the ire of Lin-Manuel Miranda and several Hamilton performers after she was spotted with her phone in the audience of an off-Broadway production of what would become a cultural juggernaut.

Later that year, Patti LuPone famously confiscated a woman's phone while performing in the off-Broadway play Shows For Days.

The Tony Award-winning actress and singer later issued a statement explaining her reaction:

"We work hard on stage to create a world that is being totally destroyed by a few, rude, self-absorbed and inconsiderate audience members who are controlled by their phones. They cannot put them down. When a phone goes off or when a LED screen can be seen in the dark it ruins the experience for everyone else - the majority of the audience at that performance and the actors on stage. I am so defeated by this issue that I seriously question whether I want to work on stage anymore. Now I'm putting battle gear on over my costume to marshal the audience as well as perform."

As Spector's tweet made the rounds on Twitter Monday night (it's been retweeted more than 4,000 times and boasts more than 35,000 likes), many social media users brought up LuPone.

So last night was the opening night for the Cher show on Broadway! I wish someone told Kanye West that. Wasn't Patti Lupone there? Where is she when we need her?

— Destiny Taylor (@destinyvashawnt) December 4, 2018

Kanye better be glad Ms. Patti Lupone wasn't onstage because she will lay hands on you for such shenanigans.

— Frederick Augustus Olds (@fredaolds) December 4, 2018

West was in the audience with his wife, Kim Kardashian, who is such a huge fan of Cher's that she has dressed up as her multiple times. ("You look BEAUTIFUL Little Armenian Sister," Cher wrote in response to one of the reality star's Halloween costumes). The rapper later apologized for his "lack of etiquette." A representative for West told the New York Times that he had been using his cellphone to "take notes" and that West "loved the show and was incredibly impressed by the production."

And West himself complimented the production in his apology, noting that "the dynamics of Cher and Sonny's relationship made Kim and I grab each other's hand and sing 'I got you babe.'"

the dynamics of Cher and Sonny's relationship made Kim and I grab each other's hand and sing "I got you babe"
please pardon my lack of etiquette. We have so much appreciation for the energy you guys put into making this master piece.

— ye (@kanyewest) December 4, 2018

The Cher Show depicts the pop diva at three different stages of her life and career. The subject of the musical, known for her own plentiful tweets, has yet to weigh in on West's faux pas.

(c) 2018, The Washington Post