'Hamilton' actor on Trump dust-up: 'There is nothing to apologize for'

Brandon Victor Dixon, the "Hamilton" actor who delivered the show’s message to Vice President-elect Mike Pence following a performance last week, said Monday morning that the cast will not be meeting Donald Trump’s demand for an apology because “there is nothing to apologize for.”

Pence’s attendance at a performance of "Hamilton" on Friday kicked off a weekend of controversy for Trump’s incoming administration after Dixon, on behalf of the show, addressed Pence and asked the audience to record the statement on their phones.


“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,” Dixon said to Pence, who paused on his way out of the theater to listen. “But we truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us.”

That message prompted Trump to launch a Twitter barrage, accusing the cast of the Broadway show of harassing Pence and being “very rude last night to a very good man.” Pence said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that he was not offended, but Trump, who famously has refused to apologize for any number of controversial statements, still demanded an apology from the musical.

Dixon, who plays Aaron Burr in the current production, said he did not write the statement he delivered to Pence but that it was crafted by the show’s director, producer and creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda. Dixon added that he and the current cast were given the opportunity to edit it and that he did not know why he had specifically been asked to deliver the message.

He did say that "Hamilton" is an "inherently American story told by the definition of, you know, the American community. We are men, women of different creeds, colors and orientations.” As such, Dixon said, “the resonant nature of the show throughout the world, throughout the global community, demands that we make statements when there are important issues, I think, facing us as a community.”

To Trump’s claim that Pence had been harassed by the show’s cast, Dixon said “conversation is not harassment” and that the vice president-elect would have been welcome to continue that conversation backstage and would be welcome in the future if he chose to return. He said Trump, too, would be welcome to come see the musical because “the power of our show and the way we tell it is undeniable."

“It was important for us. We wanted it. When you have [a] platform — art is meant to bring people together,” Dixon said when asked why he told audience members to record his message to Pence. “It’s meant to raise consciousness and when you have a platform like that, I told [producer] Jeffrey Seller after the show, I said I applaud you all for not throwing away your shot, for taking a moment to spread a message of love, to spread a message of unity. We are not here to boo. We’re here to cheer each other on.”

Trump also drew a rebuke from Republican Rep. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who stated in a Sunday Facebook post that the president-elect doesn’t need to respond to every perceived slight.

“When someone does exercise their right, demands to recant words are counterproductive. Doing so will only invite more on which to demand apology,” Sanford wrote. “Mr. Trump has far more important things on his plate than trying to pry words out of someone exercising the very American right that was created at the time of Hamilton, Jefferson, Washington, and others who believed freedom to say what we liked - and do not like - was part and parcel to liberty.”