About

#NameAPenceMusical is a hashtag that spread following a performance of the musical Hamilton attended by Vice President-elect Mike Pence in which the cast of the show directly addressed Pence and asked him to be a president for all Americans, particularly people of color and members of the LGBTQ community. The hashtag takes the names of musicals and alters their titles to make fun of Mike Pence, particularly his conservative policies.

Origin

On the night of November 18th, 2016, the United States vice president-elect Mike Pence attended a showing of Hamilton with her daughter and her cousins at Richard Rodgers Theater in New York City. The Republican governor of Indiana's attendance was met with mixed reaction from the rest of the audience, as seen in videos that later began circulating Twitter, as well as a special message from the cast of the show urging the incoming Trump administration to "work on behalf of all Americans." The statement^[1], which was spoken on-stage by actor Brandon Victor Dixon, who plays Vice President Aaron Burr, 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,” he said. “We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us.”

Shortly after the story spread on Twitter, the hashtag #NameAPenceMusical in which titles of popular musicals are altered so that they mock Pence's conservative policies began spreading on Twitter. The first example of the hashtag was used by @WhizChem,^[2] who noted the only musical Pence would be cheered at is "Springtime for Hitler," the fake musical from the film The Producers.

Spread

The hashtag grew popular over the next two days as musical theater fans made puns marrying Pence's conservative politics with names of musicals. The spread of the hashtag was covered by Buzzfeed,^[3], Huffington Post,^[4] Raw Story,^[5] and more.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References