Friday night, Vice-President elect, Mike Pence, went to watch the hit Broadway musical, Hamilton. As the show ended, one of the cast members called out Pence, as he was exiting the show. Cast member Brandon Victor Dixon, who plays Aaron Burr said the following:
"You, know we have a guest in the audience this evening. Vice President elect Pence, I see you walking out but I hope you hear just a few more moments. There's nothing to boo, ladies and gentlemen. There's nothing to boo. We're all here sharing a story of love. We have a message for
you sir, we hope that you will hear us out.
And I encourage everybody to pull out you phones and tweet and post because this message needs to be spread far and wide.
Vice President-elect Pence, we welcome you and truly thank you for joining us here at Hamilton: An American Musical. We really do.
We, sir, are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us: our planet, our children, our parents or defend us and uphold out inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of us. All of us.
Thank you truly for seeing this show, this wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men, women of different colors, creeds and orientation." (Hamilton, Twitter)
In response to the viral videos, and various tweets about this confrontation, President Elect Donald Trump (Cringe), demanding that the cast of Hamilton apologize for their actions. He claims that Pence was harassed by the cast. He followed with this twee, " The theater must always be a safe and special place. The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!" (Twitter). Trump didn't even acknowledge the concern the cast showed in their remarks. Simply ignoring the fact that the diverse population of America is genuinely terrified. Instead, he makes the cast of Hamilton look like the bad guys. The Washington Post reminds us that, "During his public career, Pence has been an outspoken opponent of equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens. In Congress, he opposed efforts to encourage foreign governments to decriminalize homosexuality and sought to block the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. As a governor, he stood against not only marriage equality, but civil unions as well. He also opposed a law prohibiting discrimination against LGBT people in the workplace and signed one opening the door to wide-ranging discrimination against these residents of his own state under the guise of religious liberty." The Hamilton cast was not wrong to do what they did, they were voicing the fears that many Americans have around the country. Lin Manuel Miranda, creator of Hamilton, tweeted Dixon and the rest of the Hamilton cast saying, "Proud of [Hamilton the musical]. Proud of Brandon Dixon, for leading with love. And proud to remind you that ALL are welcome at the theater." (Twitter).
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