--- 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 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=1200&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 > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME The Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition The Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. The day's top headlines, curated by TIME editors. The Brief brings TIME's perspective to the day's most important stories, helping readers understand not just what is happening, but why it matters. It combines original reporting and analysis with the best of TIME, spanning politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  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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