Hamilton Cast was Rude, Wrongheaded

 

By Tammy Bruce
WashingtonTimes.com

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday originally celebrating a good harvest, and then when a first national Thanksgiving was declared in 1789, Gen. George Washington proclaimed it “as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favours of Almighty God.”

Indeed, and while 2016 has been both invigorating and difficult, we again have reason to celebrate what we have and the potential of the future. But true to form, liberals and their Democratic Party (now a regional clique at best) are loathe to give up their slop of grievance, blame and tantrums.

Ranging from Democratic leadership (Howard Dean declaring Steve Bannon, a senior adviser to President-elect Trump, a “Nazi”) to their media sycophants (Keith Olbermann declaring Kellyanne Conway a “fascist” and a Roll Call columnist implying Sen. Jeff Sessions is a racist, sexist and homophobe), to riots of paid thugs in the streets of liberal cities, we’ve seen and heard the failed, condescending and bizarre self-righteousness of a liberal gang meltdown in the face of national rejection. The most self-righteous display of liberal cry-bullies also received the most news coverage this week because it involves Mike Pence, a statesman and vice president-elect, being lectured on fairness and diversity by a group of hypocritical actors in makeup and tap shoes.

The cast of the Broadway musical “Hamilton,” a show about the duel between Founding Father Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, felt it appropriate to bully and lecture Mr. Pence at the end of the show, which he attended.

The audience, which booed Mr. Pence and his family as they entered the theater, and then booed them again during certain points in the musical, applauded the rebuke.

The majority of commentary after the display agreed it was rude and inappropriate. Stevie Van Zandt tweeted, “It was the most respectful, benign form of bullying ever. But bullying nonetheless … .” Mika Brzezinski of “Morning Joe” on MSNBC noted, “It was not a good night. … It was the wrong thing to do.”

But liberals have no limits. They don’t know when to stop, because for them it’s never about genuinely accomplishing something, it’s about perpetual stomping and shaming and revenge, which never has an expiration date.

The left always goes too far, and the “Hamilton” stunt was exactly one of those times. They intended to embarrass Mr. Pence, but they embarrassed only themselves. After the ambush, President-elect Donald Trump and many others (including this columnist) called for the “Hamilton” cast to apologize. Mr. Dixon said there was no need as it was a “conversation.” That’s like claiming a bully sucker-punching someone is the equivalent of having a chat.

Not so surprising, this same actor who dares to lecture Mr. Pence on fairness and diversity is a hypocrite and is now under fire for what some consider racist and sexist tweets. Mr. Dixon refers in one tweet to women as “hos” (the slang for whores) and in one case tweeted, “St. Patty’s day weekend is like Christmas for black dudes who like white chicks. Happy holidays boys.”

In July 2013 he also tweeted, “4 every racist comment I get about Trayvon Im going 2 turn 1 white married suburban housewife & mother n2 a jump off. The. Best.” Jump off apparently referring to a casual sexual encounter.

But we shouldn’t be surprised. “Hamilton” is the same company that advertised for “non-white” performers only during a casting call. The Hill reports, “The notice for an open casting call in New York advertised open auditions for singers ‘who rap,’ adding, ‘Seeking NON-WHITE men and women, ages 20s to 30s, for Broadway and upcoming Tours!’ [A civil rights attorney noted] that the advertisement violated the New York City Human Rights Law.”

Yet these are the people lecturing Mr. Pence, and by association all Trump-Pence supporters, about racism, fairness and diversity. Got it.

Some of the initial reaction included call for boycotts of “Hamilton” and its $850 tickets. The problem with that is many of the people who put Messrs. Trump and Pence in the White House can’t afford to go to New York or buy tickets for “Hamilton.” Perhaps these entertainment elitists concluded they were immune from backlash or boycotts by flyover country.

Yet, Variety reported a couple of years ago that tourists buy two-thirds of all Broadway tickets. After this display, would out-of-towners feel safe in any theater when the leading musical crew on Broadway feels free to attack the vice president-elect while encouraging audience members to film and post it on the Internet?

Strangely, the same “Hamilton” that feels America elected racists and tyrants to the White House, is sending its touring company to the same states that voted for Trump-Pence. Starting in 2017 they’ll be coming for your money in Georgia, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, Utah, Missouri, among others.

So the answer isn’t “boycotting” “Hamilton” in New York. But it will be interesting to see if consumers decide Broadway itself and the touring companies of “Hamilton” deserve their hard-earned cash.

When the New York Post asked Mr. Dixon about a pro-Trump heckler (after the Pence ambush) during the Saturday night “Hamilton” performance in Chicago, he said, “That is certainly not the first time, nor will it be the last, that somebody went into a theater and began to act inappropriately or stand up and interrupt a show,” very clearly missing the irony of that statement.

• Tammy Bruce, author and Fox News contributor, is a radio talk show host.