The play was supposed to start at 8:00, but it got delayed because Rodney James had stage fright.
You’d figure that someone whose job it was to sit on the stage and do nothing could just suck it up for one performance.

Does "suck it up for" mean mess up here?

Question

The play was supposed to start at 8:00, but it got delayed because Rodney James had stage fright.
You’d figure that someone whose job it was to sit on the stage and do nothing could just suck it up for one performance.

Does "suck it up for" mean mess up here?

Answer

Hi.

To suck it up means to accept something usually that’s unpleasant or difficult.

In this case the person means, they should just accept having stage fright and keep going.