Lin-Manuel Miranda recently responded after a church in Texas performed an "illegal, unauthorized production" of Hamilton.
For context, the Door McAllen church staged a version of Hamilton this past weekend — with some of the lyrics changed and an anti-gay sermon added at the end.
The reported changed lyrics include these original lyrics — “I know who I married / So long as you come home at the end of the day" — in the song “That Would Be Enough," which were changed to “My hope is in Jesus / If you could just give him a chance today." There was also reportedly a scene added where Alexander Hamilton repents for his sins and accepts Jesus Christ.
As footage from the unauthorized production began going viral across social media — though the church appears to have since deleted its videos of the show — it unsurprisingly reached the show's creator, Lin-Manuel.
"Grateful to all of you who reached out about this illegal, unauthorized production. Now lawyers do their work," Lin-Manuel wrote on Twitter while sharing a statement from the Dramatists Guild.
Grateful to all of you who reached out about this illegal, unauthorized production. Now lawyers do their work. And always grateful to the @dramatistsguild, who have the backs of writers everywhere, be it your first play or your fiftieth. 1/2 https://t.co/yMtM3z9crI
"We hold up the Door McAllen Church’s brazen infringement to shine a light on the problematic pattern of some theatrical organizations performing authors’ work without a license and rewriting the text without authorial consent. No organization, professional, amateur, or religious, is exempt from these laws," the statement reads.
"Always grateful to the @dramatistsguild, who have the backs of writers everywhere, be it your first play or your fiftieth," he added.
A spokesperson for Hamilton further told the New York Times, “The ‘Hamilton’ family stands for tolerance, compassion, inclusivity, and certainly LGBTQ+ rights. We are in the process of reviewing the unauthorized changes made to the script to determine further action.”
