Many of those intrepid members of the cast of Hamilton who braved the terrifying prospect of a Donald Trump presidency to deliver a lecture to Vice President-elect Mike Pence about how he should govern have eschewed voting for years.
According to Radar Online, here’s a brief list of some of the self-important busybodies who felt free to teach Mike Pence how to govern but haven’t even bothered to vote in previous years.
Javier Munoz, who was playing Alexander Hamilton, registered to vote in 2006 and voted in the mid-term elections, but records since 2006 have no record of him voting;
Seth Stewart, playing Thomas Jefferson, voted in 2008, but did not vote in 2012;
Okieriete “Oak” Onaodowan, who plays James Madison and Hercules Mulligan, registered to vote in 2005 but there is no record of him voting since.
Anthony Ramos Martinez, playing Hamilton’s eldest son Philip, registered to vote in 2012, but hasn’t voted since then.
The brouhaha started when Brandon Dixon, who plays Aaron Burr, read the message to Pence after the Friday performance. The New York Times reported that the message was written by show creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, director Thomas Kail and lead producer, Jeffrey Seller. It read:
We, sir, 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. We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us.
Seller rationalized the cast’s actions after the message was delivered, moaning that they could barely perform after the election results were announced:
We had to ask ourselves, how do we cope with this? Our cast could barely go on stage the day after the election. The election was painful and crushing to all of us here. We all struggled with what was the appropriate and respectful and proper response. We are honored that Mr. Pence attended the show, and we had to use this opportunity to express our feelings.
The crowd both cheered and booed Pence when he entered. Donald Trump responded to the cast’s actions by tweeting:
Dixon tweeted back:
Trump demanded an apology from the cast on Twitter; Dixon told CBS This Morning on Monday, “There’s nothing to apologize for.”