Donald Trump called on the cast of Broadway’s musical hit “Hamilton” to apologize after they singled out Vice President-elect Michael Pence during the curtain call of Friday’s performance.
“The Theater must always be a safe and special place,” the president-elect tweeted on Saturday morning. “The cast of Hamilton was very rude last night to a very good man, Mike Pence. Apologize!”
Brandon Victor Dixon, the actor playing Aaron Burr in the hit Tony-winning show, read a statement from the cast about Pence, who was in attendance, and urged audience members to record and share the message on social media.
“You know, we have a guest in the audience this evening,” Dixon said from the stage. ” 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 your phones and tweet and post because this message needs to be spread far and wide.
“Vice President-elect Pence, we welcome you and we 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 our inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all 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 orientations.”
Trump’s second in command got an icy reception the whole night at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, where he was reportedly booed on his way in and then heckled during relevant lyrics in various musical numbers about one of the founding fathers of the United States.
Show creator and former star Lin-Manuel Miranda was not in attendance Friday night, but he, director Tommy Kail, the show’s producers and cast all wrote the statement together after learning Pence would be attending the performance, according to New York Times reporter Patrick Healey, who also said the VP-to-be was walking out of the theater as Dixon begun reading the statement, so it’s unclear which parts, if any, he heard.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2016