You might’ve heard that Vice-President-Elect Mike Pence received a chorus of vicious boos by Richard Rogers Theatre patrons while attending a performance of Hamilton in New York last night. However, thanks to the gift of social media, we now know that the boos and jeers transcended Pence’s initial walk to his orchestra center seats — the crowd gave a long standing ovation after the line “immigrants, we get the job done†from “Yorktown†was delivered; and “You’ll Be Back†had to be temporarily stopped midway through when the crowd became too rowdy after the line “do you know how hard it is to lead?†Pence attempted to leave the theater promptly upon the musical’s end, but a special curtain call kept him a little bit longer, and Brandon Victor Dixon (Aaron Burr) read a poignant statement alongside the rest of the cast aimed specifically at the soon-to-be VP:
Vice President-elect, we welcome you and truly thank you for joining us at Hamilton: An American Musical. We 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 hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values, and work on behalf of all of us, all of us. We truly thank you for sharing this show, this wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men and women of different colors, creeds, and orientations.
Per the New York Times, Lin-Manuel Miranda penned the statement, and Pence heard all of the remarks as he stood in the auditorium hallway with his security detail. President-Elect Donald Trump has yet to attend a Hamilton performance.