Breaking: Scott Rudin to 'Step Back' from Broadway Productions, Apologizes for Past Behavior

Following a recent story by the Hollywood Reporter about stage and screen producer Scott Rudin's abusive workplace behavior, the producer has finally responded to the various allegations.

He tells the Washington Post, "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. After a period of reflection, I've made the decision to step back from active participation on our Broadway productions, effective immediately. 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.

My passionate hope and expectation is that Broadway will reopen successfully very soon, and that the many talented artists associated with it will once again begin to thrive and share their artistry with the world. I do not want any controversy associated with me to interrupt Broadway's well deserved return, or specifically, the return of the 1500 people working on these shows."

The Reporter article spoke to to several ex-Rudin staffers who detail volatile and 'traumatizing' past experiences. The stories of abuse range from verbal tirades, to throwing a laptop at a window, and even smashing a computer monitor on an assistant's hand. The full story is available here.

Since its publication, True Grit EP Megan Ellison has also spoken out. "This piece barely scratches the surface of Scott Rudin's abusive, racist, and sexist behavior," she tweeted. "Similarly to Harvey, too many are afraid to speak out. I support and applaud those who did. There's good reason to be afraid because he's vindictive and has no qualms about lying."

Since his first Broadway producing credit for 1993's Face Value, Rudin has produced dozens of Broadway shows. He has won Tony Awards for The Ferryman, The Boys in the Band, Hello, Dolly!, The Humans, A View from the Bridge, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Skylight, A Raisin in the Sun, Death of a Salesman, The Book of Mormon, Fences, God of Carnage, The History Boys, Doubt, The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, Copenhagen, and Passion.

Rudin's recent slate of Broadway shows included West Side Story, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Book of Mormon. Before the onset fo the pandemic, he was due to open a revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and the West End transfer of The Lehman Trilogy. Rudin's next Broadway project was to be the upcoming revival of The Music Man, starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster.

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