Imagine being an Uber driver and picking up your customers and telling them that you dislike musicals and not knowing that the passenger in your car is the 11-time NAACP Image Awards actress Loretta Devine.
That is exactly the plight one driver found himself in after picking up the multi-hyphenate who is the star of the upcoming musical “The Preacher’s Wife” at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, GA.
While seated in the back seat, the “The Carmichael Show” star personified the saying, “You betta asked somebody,” after tearing the man to shreds for talking down on musicals.
The 2:20-minute clip starts in mid-conversation, with Devine fanning herself in the back of his SUV and saying, “You don’t know ’cause you ain’t see. You done already formed an opinion.”
“I’m not talking about that musical, I am talking about musicals in general,” the driver said, not knowing that Devine not only opened the critically acclaimed musical “Hair” in 1977, “Comin’ Uptown” in 1979 but was the original Lorrell Robinson is the six-time Tony-winning musical “Dreamgirls.”
Devine’s guest, who appeared to be holding the phone recording the interaction, said, “Maybe this one will change your mind,” to which the driver answered that he didn’t think it would.
The driver said that many women have tried to change his mind about musicals, as Devine rationalized that he had not been to this one, so he can’t have a valid opinion on if it is good or not.
“You gonna miss a whole lot,” she said, “’Cause you done shut down half your brain.”
The driver then asked her if she had “points” in the musical and she said, “I’m in it” to his shock.
“My apologies, you’re an actress,” he said.
“I’m more than that, baby,” the diva coolly said as she fanned herself. “I’m a whole lot more than that. You need to ask somebody. You can look me up on the internet.”
Eventually, he realizes who she is and fans out for a moment, bringing up some of her other works, like “Waiting to Exhale.”
Many on social media were shocked that he didn’t know who he was talking to.
One person quoted Devine, writing, “‘I’m more than that, baby!’ I don’t know how this driver didn’t know he had THEE LORETTA DEVINE in his car, but he proceeded to play himself and it’s hilarious.”
Another person replied to the tweet, writing, “RIGHT! There is ZERO chance he didn’t know he was transporting THE Mrs. Devine. Even if she got in the car without him seeing her face, you CANNOT deny her voice.”
“I’m not a fan of musicals but I would NEVER fix my mouth to tell THEE Loretta Devine this,” one X user wrote.
Someone else wrote, “I am ashamed that such a queen OG like Miss Loretta Devine even had to experience this clown!”
RIGHT! There is ZERO chance he didn't know he was transporting THE Mrs. Devine. Even if she got in the car without him seeing her face, you CANNOT deny her voice.
— Scott John Dan Steve (@2BluNote) April 4, 2024
While Ms. Devine might have thought he was a clown, she never said it. Instead, she gracefully teased the driver about why he isn’t married — offering that because he lacks the joy that musicals bring to people’s lives that might be unsuccessful in love.
The 74-year-old stays booked in busy and has been for six decades. She stays working because her bag of tricks is deep.
Whether she is playing a villain on “Kingdom Business,” doing a voiceover on the children’s series “Doc McStuffins” and “Eureka,” playing a blind grandmother in “P-Valley,” or starring in a soap opera like “Days of Our Lives,” she is one of the most respected actresses around. In addition to those roles, she is also a memorable face from her short stint in “A Different World” and her Emmy-winning role on “Grey’s Anatomy,” as Adele Webber, the wife of Dr. Richard Webber.
Devine also has one of the most recognizable voices in the game that everyone knows — that is, except this one driver. Bet he’ll never forget her voice again.
Other notable films and series the multi-NAACP Image Award winner starred in include “Kingdom Business,” “This Christmas,” “Being Mary Jane,” “Kingdom Come,” “Funny Valentines,” and “Down In the Delta.”
