Police in Chicago have charged a man after he allegedly interrupted a Chicago performance of the musical Hamilton by shouting "We won" a day after the show's Broadway cast irritated President-elect Donald Trump with an impromptu protest.
John Palmer, 56, was arrested and charged with one misdemeanor count of criminal trespass to land after causing a disturbance in the PrivateBank Theatre on Saturday night and then refusing to leave, the Chicago Sun Times reported.
Two audience members told the website Pajiba the man interrupted the show after cast members sang the line "Immigrants, we get the job done!" from the song "Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)" — a line that usually draws loud cheers from theatergoers.
“He was saying things like, ‘We won. Trump is president. Get over it,’” audience member Kate Hoyt told the website. “At some point [her friend] Ken leaned into the aisle to try and tell him to leave and the guy then put up both his fists and said, ‘Let’s go, Democrats. I’ll kill you all.’”
A Chicago Tribune reporter in the audience for the show told the newspaper that the man appeared to be intoxicated.
The man was eventually removed by ushers to the cheers of the audience, Hoyt told Pajiba, but she said he continued to shout, "‘I am being arrested by Democrats! Get over it you losers — this is Trump’s America now!'"
People on Twitter who claimed to be in the audience for the show posted similar accounts:
Got to be in the balcony at #HamiltonCHI tonight with a drunken fool shouting about Trump. Cops had to drag him out. Tensions are high
So much love for the #HAMILTONCHI cast refusing to let hate trip them up. Staggering performances all around. Thank you. ❤️ #LoveTrumpsHate
A reporter at the website Broadway World posted video purportedly showing the man being detained by police:
Here is the man being removed from #Hamilton in Chicago last night. Warning: Explicit language. #HamiltonCHI
Cast members Karen Olivo and Joseph Morales made references on Twitter to the interruption:
This is why we train...so when the obstacles come we conquer them with skill and precision. #HamiltonCHI
We'll tell the story of tonight. No matter what they tell us. #HamiltonCHI
Hardcore Trump supporters were enraged after the New York City cast of Hamilton delivered an impassioned, post–curtain call address to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who attended their show on Friday night.
Actor Brandon Dixon highlighted the cast's diversity and told Pence he hoped the show "inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us."
Trump himself then spent the weekend using his Twitter account to slam the cast's actions as "rude" and demanded an apology, however Pence said Sunday he had not been offended by the surprise speech and urged people to see the "incredible production."