In just a matter of five years, popular culture’s opinion of the amazingly famous “Hamilton” musical has radically changed.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator of the hit Broadway show, which is now streaming on Disney+, called criticism of the musical “fair game” and “valid.”
The musical, which debuted in 2015, tells the biographical story of Alexander Hamilton, a founding father considered to be an abolitionist due to his opposition to slavery.
On July 3, Miranda participated in a virtual viewing of the “Hamilton” movie version on Disney+, responding and interacting online with Twitter users watching along. His social media feeds were filled with some much criticism, Miranda set his Twitter account to private until he responded Monday.
“All criticisms are valid,” wrote the show writer and star. “The sheer tonnage of complexities [and] failings of these people I couldn’t get. Or wrestled with but cut. I took [six] years and fit as much as I could in a 2.5-hour musical. Did my best. It’s all fair game.”
Miranda’s response came as people all over social media have been decrying his beloved show as “problematic” for its portrayal of some of the founding fathers, all of whom are played by black actors as they sing, rap, and dance.
The Washington Post published a critical article of “Hamilton” titled, “Hamilton despised slavery but didn’t confront George Washington or other slaveholders.”
“[I]t might feel good to watch ‘Hamilton’ and think of an ethnically diverse, hip-hop past,” wrote the article’s author. “The reality, of course, was way more complicated.”
The show the New Yorker once lauded for its “righteous, multicultural patriotism” is now diametrically opposed to much of the Black Lives Matter movement, whose supporters seem only interested in ideological purity.