ABC/Craig Sjodin(NEW YORK) — Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda took to Twitter to apologize for what he called a “moral failure” of not speaking out soon enough about the death of George Floyd.
Floyd, a black man, was killed one week ago today in Minneapolis after a white police officer placed his knee on Floyd’s neck during an arrest, while Floyd repeatedly declared that he couldn’t breathe. His death sparked ongoing protests nationwide.
“We spoke out on the day of the Pulse shooting,” Miranda said. “We spoke out when Vice President Mike Pence came to our show 10 days after the election. And that we have not yet firmly spoken inarguable truth of Black Lives Matter and denounced systematic racism and white supremacy from our official Hamilton channels is a moral failure on our part.”
He added, “As the writer of the show, I take responsibility and apologize for my part in this moral failure. I’m sorry for not pushing harder and faster for us to speak these self-evident truths under the Hamilton banner, which has come to mean so much to so many of you…Literally, the idea of the show doesn’t exist without the brilliant black and brown artists in our cast, crew, and production team who breathe life into the story every time it’s performed.”
Miranda concluded. “It’s up to us in words and deeds to stand up for our fellow citizens…and have each others’ backs.”
He closed with, “History has its eyes on all of us.”
By Stephen Iervolino
Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.