Broadway Star fires back at critic of his Tony Nomination
Roger Bart in ‘Back to the Future’
by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder
In the midst of the fervor surrounding the recent Tony Award nominations, one Broadway star is at the center of a social media situation. Roger Bart, celebrated for his captivating performance in ‘Back to the Future’, took to X(formerly Twitter) to address criticism regarding his latest Tony nomination for Best Actor in a Featured Role portraying Doc Brown.
A user asked “No offense to him, but how in the world did Roger Bart get a Tony nomination for Back to the Future???”
Bart, not usually known for responding to such posts, stated bluntly in a since deleted tweet, “Hey Michelle. No offense to you. But that may be one of the single rudest texts I’ve ever read. GFY.”
GFY is an obscenity-laced abbreviation.
The user then replied to Bart saying,
“Hey man, I didn't tag you in anything, so it's not a "text" to you. I can have an opinion on your performance, sorry if you don't like that. Maybe you should turn off your search for your own name, or, I don't know, just scroll on by. And on a show night? C'mon man.”
Many responded by supporting Bart and admonishing the original poster for posting something so cruel.
While many will defend Bart and his response, I’m sure others may call it “unprofessional” and something that’s beneath him. I may not endorse the language he used, but I don’t mind him defending himself.
Look, in this day in age where people are posting whatever their want, nice or cruel, on X, seeing someone stand up for themselves and telling critics to essentially f**k off is somewhat refreshing.
To answer the user’s (Michelle) question, Bart was nominated because he gave a strong enough performance to sway Tony voters. Plain and simple.
While I’ve been critical of ‘Back to the Future’ as a whole, one thing is for sure, and that is Bart’s performance stands out enormously. Also, being one of the most consistently talented and reliable Broadway stars over the past 30 years doesn’t hurt voter appreciation either.
Will he win? As of right now, I think it’s Daniel Radcliffe’s night. But Bart is certainly worthy of the nod.
But I think it’s important to remember, and this is a lesson I’m still learning: everyone reacts to negative social media postings differently. Broadway stars are made of Teflon and aren’t impervious to stinging social media posts. Other than actually winning the award(which Bart has done), a Tony nomination is the highest mountain a Broadway professional can climb. It’s okay to be upset when someone is snubbed. But let’s not react to other nominations like they’re some sort of injustice. Food for thought.