Broadway Elite breathe a sigh of relief as Scott Rudin decides to work from home
On a Saturday morning, Scott Rudin made the very rare move of publicly apologizing for his bad behavior. In a statement to the Washington Post, Rudin also announced that he will be “stepping back” from his Broadway productions. “My roles will be filled by others from the Broadway community and in a number of cases, from the roster of participants already in place on those shows,” he said.
After that, he likely exhaled because that’s about as contrite he can get and probably sprung for the Zoom United plan because that’s all he’ll likely do.
Since Peter Marks from the Post didn’t dare follow up for any details on Rudin’s plan or challenge him on what specific incidents he’s apologizing for, we have no idea what “stepping back” actually means or "steps” he’s taking to address his behavior.
I’ve already read comments texted to me from Broadway elites saying things like “See? He’s trying to be better." Or “Look what speaking out can do.” Or “Is this what you wanted?”
But what those Broadway elites and others don’t understand is that Rudin’s “apology” is geared to appease the folks who never bore the brunt of his abuse in the first place. So let’s break down those three comments and peel back what Rudin’s really doing and how it doesn’t appease anything.
“See? He’s trying to be better!”
First things first, you have to understand the savviness of Scott Rudin. From my interactions when working stories concerning him, my thought process is to expect everything, put nothing by him, and everything is calculated.
Case in point, he sent his statement to a critic, not a reporter, who works for a non-NYC newspaper. It was a written statement, not an interview and because he was giving the Post the exclusive, I’m not surprised that Marks included some platitudes about Rubin in the piece, like this ridiculous passage.
I almost fell out of my chair laughing at that.
And if you’re wondering why Marks wrote that? I don’t know for sure, he’s not replying to comments about it. But remember he’s a critic, sent a statement from a Broadway producer, who can revoke review privileges like the toss of a stapler. Why not butter the man up in his hour of “need”.
Rudin also sent this statement to make sure it was posted on a Saturday morning which is a convenient time to dump some news while Prince Philip’s funeral is airing. Again, put nothing past Rudin.
But what we also need to look closer at is that while Rudin apologizes for his behavior, he never specifies what he’s apologizing for. He doesn’t apologize for the yelling, allegedly smashing an Apple computer monitor on an assistant's hand, or emailing an assistant saying “The only thing separating my hands from your neck is the fact that there are 3,000 miles between us.”
He doesn’t apologize for any of that. All he says is "Much has been written about my history of troubling interactions with colleagues, and I am profoundly sorry for the pain my behavior caused to individuals, directly and indirectly,” I am now taking steps that I should have taken years ago to address this behavior.”
I wonder if any reporter challenged Rudin on his statement, he would be able to remember what is said.
So no, I don’t believe nor accept his apology. And after decades and at least two exposés into his behavior, we finally get an admission that he did “things”? In my opinion, he should be afforded no benefits of doubt.
“Look what speaking out can do.”
I’ve already seen it but there have been some doing a victory lap on social media, claiming that by simply speaking out - change can happen. That’s a load of bullshit.
Do not diminish or ignore what it took to get Scott Rudin to admit and do the bare minimum. It took a shutdown of the industry due to a pandemic and a population empowered to speak up against systematic issues because of the plague of police killing black people to get Scott Rudin to admit he was wrong for “things.”
It took a Tony-winner stepping down from their Tony-nominated role which caused the entire industry to take a second look at Scott Rudin’s alleged behavior and say, “Maybe this is a little fucked up.”
And even after all of that, all we got was a PR ad-libbed apology and his plan to work from home. I guess we can all go home now.
For the past week, we’ve seen comments from some who question protesting methods, saying that simply speaking out or starting hashtags, or holding benefit concerts would have been more impactful. That’s white privileged idiocy right there.
Because while those methods may have worked for them, it has NEVER worked for people of the global majority who work in this industry. They already tried those methods and have been met with silence. That’s what made Karen Olivo’s decision so momentous, because it finally got through, just enough for Rudin to apologize for “things”.
“Is this what you wanted?”
Short answer? Yes and no. Proper answer? What Rudin did is the smallest piece of the pie I am looking for when it comes to right his many wrongs.
As I said above, I have no idea what Scott Rudin means by stepping back. It could mean he will have no direct involvement with his current or future Broadway productions or simply that he’s going to be working from his West Village home. He’s not telling us and I don’t expect him to. This is why we shouldn’t accept this as a step in the right direction.
What I want, what’s important to me(Godfather reference), is for Rudin to STEP DOWN as lead producer of these productions and any future ones. I want him to forfeit his rights on past material that’s often performed such as Doubt, God of Carnage, and Caroline or Change, and sell the name rights on material such as To Kill a Mockingbird.
I still want the Producers Guild of America to remove him from their ranks and I still want Actors’ Equity and SAG-AFTRA to put him on their DO NOT WORK lists.
I want him to apologize to every single person for every single thing he did to them and pay them whatever restitution they’re owed. I want him to pay for every therapy session or medical bill his behavior incurred. I want him to donate most of his income to non-profits who are working to make this industry a safer place.
I want a lot more than an apology for “things”.
But that’s just my list, I’m sure many others have their own and he needs to check all the boxes on theirs as well.
And then I want him to leave the industry and never return.
But will Scott Rudin ever do any of this? No. This is why what he did is not what I wanted. It’s not what any of us wanted.
So the Broadway elite can breathe a sigh of relief that they never had to publicly condemn Rudin’s “things”, But for those on the front line of demanding change to an industry that has substantial issues, they are not nearly done.