Amid all the excitement and buzz surrounding Hamilton's release on Disney+ at the beginning of July, singer Scott Hoying has found a modern equivalent to Lin-Manuel Miranda's favorite Founding Father, and that man is none other than Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Hoying, who sings in the a capella pop group Pentatonix, dropped his coronavirus-themed take on Hamilton's opening song, "Alexander Hamilton," on TikTok and Instagram on Monday. In the Instagram caption, Hoying wrote that he co-wrote the song with comedians Joey Orton and Brad Silnutzer.
@scotthoying DR ANTHONY FAUCI â¤ï¸ #fauci #hamiltonmusical #hamilton
♬ original sound - scotthoying
Hoying raps lines about the NIAID director, while pictures of the man himself are shown behind him. "How does a genius immunologist, grad of Cornell with a doctorate, dropped in the middle of a pandemic get stopped by the president for all of the press he did?/'Cause tantrums from a toddler trump facts from a scholar," Hoying raps with some clever wordplay to fit President Donald Trump's name in as a sly reference.
Hoying also unveiled a pair of fitting new nicknames for Fauci: "The masked king" and "The duke of distancing."
The singer then pivots to calling out people that may want to discredit Fauci and not listen to guidelines that he's offered during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Why aren't we listening to someone of his stature and positioning? It's sickening/This is what physicians do/All disaster movies start with a scientist that no one listens to," he raps.
As the song crescendos to the chorus, Hoying lists Fauci's other accomplishments and fictional doctors that the NIAID director puts to shame. "He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor/Led the charge against Ebola and Zika," he goes. "He makes McDreamy [from Grey's Anatomy] look sleazy, Dr. House [from House] he can't keep up. He's got the hottest body of work."
Near its end, the video cuts to Hoying with gray hair, posing as Fauci. Hoying then offers his own twist on Hamilton's catchphrase: "There's a million things I haven't cured, but just you wait."
People on Instagram and TikTok shared compliments on the clever parody. "[Y]ou're so smart????? I've spent quarantine finishing adult colouring books and this is what you've accomplished," musician Betty Who commented on Instagram.
Another person proposed including it in a historical musical in the future. "This is the most amazing thing I've ever seen," the user wrote on TikTok. "When they make a musical in the future about 2020 this needs to be a song in it."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
