TORONTO — A case of mistaken identity and misguided angry tweets could actually be a boon for a Hamilton theatre company.
Hamilton Theatre Inc., based in the southern Ontario city, says it’s received an overwhelming amount of support after pro-Donald Trump Twitter users mistook the Canadian venue for the hit Broadway show Hamilton.
The company got caught in the social media crossfire after Hamilton cast member Brandon Victor Dixon read a statement to U.S. vice-president-elect Mike Pence while he was in the show’s New York audience Friday night.
The statement said the Tony Award-winning show’s multiracial cast is concerned about the Trump administration. That led president-elect Trump to demand an apology and some of his supporters to call for a boycott of Hamilton.
But in trying to tweet their rage to the Hamilton musical account, some Trump supporters mistakenly tagged the Hamilton Theatre in Canada.
“As of right now, it’s really been all benefits,” said Riane Leonard, who handles the company’s social media and is a member of its production team.
She noted the story has taken off “in a really unexpected way,” with coverage by international news outlets and Twitter users defending them.
“Doing stuff like that but also sending their support in other ways — wanting to know about the theatre and wanting to know more about the shows that we have going on, people have been inquiring about donating to the theatre,” said Leonard.
“It’s just been so overwhelming. For the negative things that may have come from this, there’s just been such an outpouring of support from our Hamilton community, across the country.
“People in the United States have been tweeting, apologizing on behalf of their fellow countrymen.”
Leonard said she first noticed the tweets Friday night after a performance of the theatre company’s production of The Toxic Avenger, for which she operates the lighting board.
“I checked my phone and noticed that there were various tweets to the Hamilton Theatre Inc. Twitter account and at first I thought: ‘Oh, great, these are just the audience members who had just seen the show and they’re commenting that they had a great time,’ ” she said.
“Then when I opened the tweets, it was the opposite of that. The first one said something along the lines of: ‘You should be ashamed of yourself, Hamilton Theatre, I’m never supporting you again,’ and I thought, ‘Oh my God, what could we have done to create such a reaction?’ ”
Once she realized the mixup, she replied to three of the initial tweeters but deleted the messages because she didn’t want to hijack the Hamilton Theatre’s Twitter account. She’s also blocked some accounts.
“Also, I didn’t want to get into this never-ending battle with Republicans,” she said. “I knew that there would be no shaking in their mind what they perceived was right and just.”
Leonard said they’re not upset by the incident.
“We’ve taken a very tongue-in-cheek approach to this in saying: ‘Don’t worry, guys, we’re tough up here in the north’ and things like that,” she said. “But it’s such a ridiculous story. I can’t believe how far it’s travelled.”
