“Hamilton” actor Brandon Dixon said Monday that the cast will not apologize for delivering a message to Vice President-elect Mike Pence as he left Friday night’s show.
“There is nothing to apologize for,” said Dixon on “CBS This Morning.” Dixon plays Aaron Burr, the nation’s third vice president, in the hit Broadway musical.
“The resonant nature of the show … demands that we make statements when there are important issues I think facing us as a community, so we wanted to stand up and spread the message of love and of unity considering all the emotional outpour since the election,” Dixon said.
Dixon confirmed that “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda was involved in writing the message. Miranda, producer Jeffrey Seller and director Thomas Kail collaborated on the message and shared it with Dixon and the cast, who made a few adjustments.
On Saturday morning, Trump tweeted his displeasure with the cast of the musical. “Our wonderful future VP Mike Pence was harassed last night at the theater by the cast of Hamilton, cameras blazing.”
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
In subsequent tweets, Trump called for the “rude” cast to apologize to Pence.
Pence finally broke his silence and said on Sunday that he was not offended by the cast’s message. “I did hear what was said from the stage and I could tell you, I wasn’t offended by what was said,” he said on Fox News. “I’ll leave to others whether that was the appropriate venue to say it.”
The vice president-elect was greeted by boos from audience members when he took a break from his busy schedule. He told his family the boos were “what freedom sounds like.”
“Conversation is not harassment, and I was really appreciative that Vice President-elect Pence stood there and listened to what we had to say,” Dixon said.
