Patti LuPone "Furious" That LGBTQ+ Cruise Ship Banned From Turkey Ports: "I Am Ready To Perform"

Patti LuPone is set to headline an all-gay cruise next week, and she just found out Turkey banned the ship from its ports. The three-time Tony winner is not sailing quietly.

The Atlantis Events voyage leaves Greece on July 5 aboard Virgin's Scarlet Lady, and it was supposed to dock in the Turkish port town of Kusadasi before heading to Istanbul.

Turkish authorities canceled both stops, calling the group "incompatible with the fabric of our society and our moral values." More than a thousand passengers, most of them American, had booked the trip.



LuPone took it straight to Instagram. "I am shocked," she wrote. "The Atlantis cruise I am performing on next week has been banned from entering Turkey. A ship - a magnificent ship - full of gay men. And me."

Then, pure LuPone: "I am furious, but I am sailing." The ship is rerouting to Cairo and Crete instead, and she has no intention of missing it. "I am ready to perform for all the wonderful men on this Atlantis cruise, who deserve so much better than this."
Turkey has banned Istanbul's Pride march every year since 2015. This time they turned away a whole ship. What they could not do was cancel the show.

ALSO: https://deadline.com/2026/07/patti-lupone-lgbtq-cruise-ship-turkey-1236973822/