Playwrights Horizons sued over discount for POC

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 12/22/25 at 5:04pm

I unfortunately can't do a gift link or get this to open but seems to be picking up steam. Maybe someone else can? https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/22/theater/playwrights-horizons-lawsuit-race-based-discounts.html

[SteveSanders]

Posted: 12/22/25 at 5:20pm

https://archive.li/oM5nx

[quizking101]

Posted: 12/22/25 at 5:34pm

I can’t imagine this holding any water, but in this America, where white grievance is a cottage industry, who knows?

Fundamental question - what prevented him from going any other night?

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 12/22/25 at 5:41pm

Love someone with the money to file a frivolous lawsuit about discounts they don't need. 

[Kad]

Posted: 12/22/25 at 5:42pm

A frivolous and bad faith lawsuit. I hope it is thrown out immediately, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it were. As quizking pointed out, the plaintiff would have had the rest of the run to attend. Moreover, PH has no means or intention to enforce the BIPOC-only discount, which would likely have been illegal- it was on a self-identification honor system. Anyone of any background could’ve used the discount. 

Updated On: 12/22/25 at 05:42 PM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 12/22/25 at 5:50pm

So by this logic are student rush tickets also discriminatory? And discount codes sent via email are discriminatory towards those who don’t sign up for the email list?

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 12/22/25 at 5:57pm

Note this lawsuit is from Kevin Lynch who has a notable history of spewing vile and racist hate speech on his YouTube. He claims theatre “hates white men”

Updated On: 12/22/25 at 05:57 PM

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 12/22/25 at 5:59pm

Thanks for that archive link! I didn't know how to do that and do now. :)

[Kad]

Posted: 12/22/25 at 6:00pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "So by this logicare student rush tickets also discriminatory? And discount codes sent via email are discriminatory towards those who don’t sign up for the email list?"

I worked in the audience services phone room of theatre company right out of college. I did once have somebody call and demand they be given the company’s 30 under 30-type discount despite being decades older than the cutoff, saying the discount was discriminatory. I passed them off to my manager because I was 22 and absolutely not dealing with it- they didn’t get the discount.

But there are definitely people out there who see ticket initiatives like this as taking something away from them. 

 

[quizking101]

Posted: 12/22/25 at 6:07pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "So by this logicare student rush tickets also discriminatory? And discount codes sent via email are discriminatory towards those who don’t sign up for the email list?"

I *think* and don’t quote me, It's a discount program for a particular age/status group, not a restriction against others. Everyone else can still buy regular tickets, as this person did. Some shows or productions may have specific subscriptions or requirements to obtain tickets at a student price, which are advertised if you actually look or inquire.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 12/22/25 at 7:28pm

Call_me_jorge said: "Note this lawsuit is from Kevin Lynch who has a notable history of spewing vile and racist hate speech on his YouTube. He claims theatre “hates white men”"

I used to watch him on YouTube. He's a very talented musician, and some of his videos were pretty funny before he started trying to become the Ben Shapiro of Broadway. It's a shame he decided to throw that all away to become a provocateur.

[RUkiddingme]

Posted: 12/22/25 at 7:53pm

as a white person who paid less than $90 to see Practice no one has to pay the higher prices.

Sit a row or two further from the stage and save some money.

The only theater that's gonna want this a-hole's business is the Kennedy Center!

[spicemonkey]

Posted: 12/22/25 at 8:33pm

RUkiddingme said: "as a white person who paid less than $90 to see Practice no one has to pay the higher prices.

Sit a row or two further from the stage and save some money.

The only theater that's gonna want this a-hole's business is the Kennedy Center!"

I imagine the show would be:

Laura Osnes

         in

The White Way, A New Musical 

No One Else' Having a Shot 

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 12/22/25 at 8:55pm

Alex Kulak2 said: "I used to watch him on YouTube. He's a very talented musician, and some of his videos were pretty funny before he started trying to become the Ben Shapiro of Broadway. It's a shame he decided to throw that all away to become a provocateur."

Oh, it wasn't a sudden decision. He's always been an asshole with a veneer of funny. Ask anyone in the Jersey theater scene who's ever been around him for even a short time.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 12/22/25 at 10:29pm

RUkiddingme said: "as a white person who paid less than $90 to see Practice no one has to pay the higher prices.

Sit a row or two further from the stage and save some money.

The only theater that's gonna want this a-hole's business is the Kennedy Center!"

I bet he is hoping for some Trump/KC attention.

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 12/23/25 at 12:04am

Like it or not, he may legally have a case here.

Updated On: 12/23/25 at 12:04 AM

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 12/23/25 at 12:20am

Very scary, there seems to be a concerted effort to target theaters now in what seems to be trial balloons to send to the Trump Supreme Court.

https://pacificlegal.org/press-release/performer-sues-san-diego-library-after-being-barred-from-portraying-black-historical-figures/

Updated On: 12/23/25 at 12:20 AM

[John Adams]

Posted: 12/23/25 at 12:49am

The US is such a depressing place to live, now. It saddens me so much that the Kennedy Center is being spoken of with such a level of disrespect and disdain. 

...and suing a theater for providing a one-night-only discount? I can't even... 

#notmypresident

[Idiot]

Posted: 12/23/25 at 2:02am

CoffeeBreak said: "Like it or not, he may legally have a case here."

I think he might - it is discrimination based on race - but given where the case is being heard plus how very trivial the supposed 'damage' is, I'm thinking it might be thrown out. 

[blaxx]

Posted: 12/23/25 at 4:37am

Wouldn't any discount based on age, student status, etc be the same case? Why just race?

[SteveSanders]

Posted: 12/23/25 at 7:38am

I know lawsuits against ladies-only happy hour discounts were quite common many years ago and resulted in some state laws against them.

[John Adams]

Posted: 12/23/25 at 7:46am

Idiot said: "CoffeeBreak said: "Like it or not, he may legally have a case here."

I think he might - it is discrimination based on race - but given where the case is being heard plus how very trivial the supposed 'damage' is, I'm thinking it might be thrown out."

Even if the case doesn't get thrown out, that might not be a bad thing. 

If the case is heard, regardless of outcome, that case can then be used as precedent in future, similar cases.

If the case is heard and he loses, Lynch might self-defeat his own bigotry. (I'd still prefer it be thrown out, however.)

#notmypresident

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 12/23/25 at 9:35am

SteveSanders said: "I know lawsuits against ladies-only happy hour discounts were quite common many years ago and resulted in some state laws against them."

They were. However, they were brought on by disgusting men’s rights organizations. I believe that most of the states that enacted it weren’t blue but I could be wrong.

[abcd12]

Posted: 12/23/25 at 10:47am

This is beyond pathetic. What a loser. 

[FLarnhill]

Posted: 12/23/25 at 12:27pm

quizking101 said: "I can’t imagine this holding any water, but in this America, where white grievance is a cottage industry, who knows?

Wanna know what's sad? America is more systemically class-based than race. Race issues were something invented by politicians and the most powerful so that the lower classes would fight each other.