The Hamilton actor who addressed Mike Pence from the stage has rejected Donald Trump’s call for the cast to apologize for the incident.
“There’s nothing to apologize for,” Brandon Victor Dixon, who plays the US’s third vice-president, Aaron Burr, in the acclaimed musical, told CBS’s This Morning on Monday.
“If people are coming to see Hamilton to leave their politics behind, you came to the wrong show,” he told ABC’s The View.
The vice-president-elect was leaving the theatre with his Secret Service protection shortly after the Broadway show – a hip-hop musical about the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton – ended on Friday night, when Dixon stepped forward to read a message written by the producers, cast and crew, including the show’s creator and former star Lin-Manuel Miranda.
“He was walking out and then he stopped and he turned and he listened,” Dixon told The View.
The message welcomed Pence to the show and continued: “We are the diverse Americans 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 … we hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and work on behalf of all of us.
“We thank you for sharing this wonderful American story, told by a diverse group of men and women of different colors, creeds and orientations.”
In response, Trump tweeted on Saturday that Pence had been “harassed” and the cast should apologize.
Our wonderful future V.P. Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing.This should not happen!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2016
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
The cast and producers of Hamilton, which I hear is highly overrated, should immediately apologize to Mike Pence for their terrible behavior
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2016
Pence seemed less exercised by Dixon’s statement. “I did hear what was said from the stage,” he said on Sunday. “I can tell you I wasn’t offended by what was said. I will leave to others whether that was the appropriate venue to say it.”
On The View, Dixon said: “The way it was received, the way he [Pence] responded, is testament to the fact it was the right time and place.” He said actors and cultural figures had a responsibility to use their roles to discuss politics, and if there was a chance to speak with elected officials, “you must seize that opportunity”.
He pointed out that theater is often political and that the Hamilton cast and crew worked hard before the election to get people registered to vote.
“Art is meant to bring people together; it’s meant to raise conscientiousness,” he said on CBS.
When asked on Monday why Trump responded to the comments in the manner that he did, Dixon replied: “I don’t know if we have enough time to delve into the psychology of President-elect Trump.”
