At last night's Tony Awards, Larry Kramer accepted the Isabelle Stevenson Award, an award given to an individual from the theater community who has made a substantial contribution on behalf of humanitarian, social service or charitable organizations. You might not have seen his acceptance speech. As he told Michael Musto back stage:
"It was all fucked up," fumed Kramer. "They kept shunting me around. I was supposed to be on in the first segment, but everybody spoke too long, so they kept putting me off. I had to go on during a commercial break. They promised me they'd show a clip on network, but I don't think what they showed was very long." Oh, well, at least Larry told me they stood for him in the theater. "You and Cicely Tyson," I beamed. "Don't say anything bitchy!"
In the clip of the speech we saw, he mentions that Sunday was also a special day because Ryan Murphy started shooting The Normal Heart movie "today, this morning in New York. At last." He went on to say: "Serious writers are rarely considered serious writers when they are also serious activists, particularly serious gay activists. So I thank you American Theatre Wing, seriously, for taking me seriously."
Watch the clip below:
