Ticket sales for John Barrowman's upcoming show My Life in Musicals have struggled, with fewer than a quarter of seats sold days after he faced criticism over a complaint about missing pyjamas on a business class flight.
The 59-year-old singer and actor is set to perform at the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow in October, a venue with a 1,500 capacity. So far, only a few hundred tickets have been purchased, with just a few dozen sold when they went on sale over the weekend.
Fans respond sharply to theatre's promotion
The theatre promoted the performance on X, and the response was cutting following Barrowman's grumble on Friday about the lack of sleepwear on his flight. One person said: "Has he thought about pyjamas for the merchandise stand?"
Another teased: "Make sure this man has his own dressing room at EXACTLY 19.2 degrees, freshly dry cleaned PJ's every evening and a bowl of skittles with all the orange ones taken out. OR HE WILL NOT GO ON!!!"
Diva behaviour backlash
A third person joked: "I'm in row 6 and really concerned that I won't get any complimentary pyjamas. And I've heard I won't get the same food choice as rows 1 and 2 ? Paid a lot of money for the three of us. Please respond urgently."
The former Dancing On Ice judge has since deleted a video showing him complaining about his missing pyjamas after fans rushed to the comment section of his "entitled" post and slammed him for being a "diva."
Deleted video sparks criticism
Taking to Twitter, the footage showed the Doctor Who star sat in his business class seat on an American Airlines flight, where he complained about his "shady" service by flight staff as he did not receive his free pyjamas.
John, who was accompanied by his father and husband, said in the now-deleted clip: "Hi American [Airlines] we have paid for the flagship service. Three of us. My father and my husband behind and the tickets were very expensive and we get on thinking we'd get pyjamas with the flagship service. Then you apparently only give them to the first two rows in business class flagship service."
He added: "What's that all about? So far you're not batting very high. Meal order wrong and then told we don't have exactly what everyone else is getting on the flight when we all have flagship service. Can you explain? Thank you."
John continued: "I find that shady and bad customer service. You're supposed to be pushing this flagship and at the moment it's not hitting the ball out of the park."
Instead of showing sympathy, it sparked a huge backlash. One person said: "The entitlement is off the scale." Another commented: "Our thoughts are with John Barrowman at this difficult time," while a follower said: "Stop moaning about a pair of pyjamas, if you paid business class you can afford a pair yourself!"
