Lea Salonga on theatergoers who use their phones: ‘Zero manners, breeding’

Image: Instagram/@juansarte

If there is anything Tony-award winning actress-singer Lea Salonga detests, it would be those who use their cellphones during plays and concerts.

Salonga did not hold back when she took to social media to call out audience members who have the audacity to use their gadgets inside the theater.

“You guys have zero manners, zero breeding, zero empathy,” Salonga said via Facebook last April 6. “If all you’re gonna do while sitting in the front row of a play is hunch over your phone, do everyone a favor and leave.”

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Although she did not name drop which show she happened to be in, Salonga added that using one’s gadget during a performance is nothing short of disrespectful and disruptive.

“Your presence is disruptive and disrespectful to the actors and the audience,” she said. “Take your entitled *ss somewhere else. Money may get you theater tickets and your state of the art cellphone, but it can’t buy you class.”

She seemed to be on a roll, too, as a short while later, she wrote another post on Facebook. This time, she asked whether people only buy theater tickets for the status it affords them or if they truly love drama and stagecraft.

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“Because if all you’re going to do is glue your corneas to your cellphone, then might I suggest something else? Like staying home?” she said. “If your intent is to be seen, congratulations. Seen, and hated.”

Salonga, in the past, has also called out theatergoers who took photos during the performance of musical “Waitress.” She took to Twitter where she rebuked audience members for taking photos during the musical and uploading them on social media last December 2018 at the RCBC Plaza in Makati City.

“You idiotic photo takers breaking the rules at #WaitressMNL,” Salonga said then. “Nakakahiya kayo (You are shameful)… (One in particular had the gall to use the official hashtag). Talino (Very bright).”

Word. JB

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