--- title: Rihanna Defended for Texting, Late at Slave Play Broadway description: Slave Play playwright Jeremy O. Harris defended Rihanna after critics slammed her for arriving late and texting during the broadway show. canonical: https://time.com/5679104/rihanna-slave-play/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-09-17T16:44:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:00:18.803Z og:title: Rihanna Defended for Texting at Broadway Show Slave Play og:description: "A patron saint of the play I wrote" og:url: https://time.com/5679104/rihanna-slave-play/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteda4ef4b99cf6737/698a0300011682112097e386/rihanna-slave-play-broadway.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Rihanna's 5th Annual Diamond Ball og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rihanna Defended for Texting at Broadway Show Slave Play twitter:description: "A patron saint of the play I wrote" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteda4ef4b99cf6737/698a0300011682112097e386/rihanna-slave-play-broadway.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rihanna Arrived Late and Texted During Broadway Show 'Slave Play.' Here's Why Playwright Jeremy O. Harris Is Defending Her From Critics  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 17, 2019 4:44 PM UTC  NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 12: Rihanna attends the 5th Annual Diamond Ball benefiting the Clara Lionel Foundation at Cipriani Wall Street on September 12, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/WireImage) NEW YORK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 12: Rihanna attends the 5th Annual Diamond Ball benefiting the Clara Lionel Foundation at Cipriani Wall Street on September 12, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Taylor Hill/WireImage)Taylor Hill—WireImage  by [Cady Lang](https://time.com/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Sep 17, 2019 4:44 PM UTC [_Slave Play_](https://time.com/5663574/fall-theater-2019/) playwright Jeremy O. Harris is defending music and fashion doyenne [Rihanna](https://time.com/5644171/rihanna-donald-trump-tweet-mass-shooting/) after online critics took her to task for arriving late and texting during a preview of the Broadway show. Harris, who interviewed Rihanna earlier this year for [_T Magazine_](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/20/t-magazine/rihanna-fenty-louis-vuitton.html), took to his Twitter to address the critiques, where he tweeted that Rihanna, “a patron saint of the play I wrote,” and her music played a key role in the play’s conception. He also noted that she was texting him during the play and he responded. “The patron saint of the play I wrote is literally a pop star, fashion icon, and Demi-goddess named Rihanna,” Harris wrote in a quote tweet of another post that criticized special treatment of the singer. “Her words are all over it. She’s a 9th character in the play. When Dionysus is coming, you hold the curtain.” > [](https://twitter.com/somedayboy/status/1173628343440293892) > [](https://twitter.com/somedayboy/status/1173318663316889608) > [](https://twitter.com/jenn32870/status/1173943354368962562) Rihanna’s influence on the play, is overt and integral. Audio from her hit 2016 song [“Work”](https://time.com/4195453/rihanna-work-drake-new-song-anti/) opens and closes the play and plays a key role in the storyline throughout, while a lyric from the song is featured prominently as part of the set. > [](https://twitter.com/jeremyoharris/status/1173106496844029953) > [](https://twitter.com/jeremyoharris/status/1173361628953399296) Harris also used criticism of Rihanna’s attendance and behavior as a way to open up a dialogue about respectability politics inherent in traditional theater etiquette and the issue of accessibility in the theater world. _Slave Play,_ which parses out the complexities of race, gender and sexuality in three contemporary interracial relationships, has put accessibility at the forefront of the production, offering 10,000 tickets at $39 and introducing a digital lottery and in-person rush system; at just six previews so far, the play has filled a nearly 99% capacity. > [](https://twitter.com/jeremyoharris/status/1173366886328930304) > [](https://twitter.com/jeremyoharris/status/1149336420852600832) Harris also organized a night for a showing of _Slave Play_ with an all-black audience, something he felt was important “after years of being the only black person in an audience of white faces…it felt like a corrective might be in order to show the potentialities of the space.” > [](https://twitter.com/jeremyoharris/status/1173703601614655494) > [](https://twitter.com/jeremyoharris/status/1173704383667810305) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5679104/rihanna-slave-play/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5679104/rihanna-slave-play/"},"headline":"Rihanna Arrived Late and Texted During Broadway Show 'Slave Play.' 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