A Texas church that produced an unauthorized version of Hamilton, dubbed "Scamilton" online, has apologized to Lin-Manuel Miranda and vowed to "pay damages" for its actions.
The Door Christian Fellowship McAllen Church, located in South Texas, posted a lengthy apology on its social media accounts and has promised to delete all videos and evidence of their unlicensed show (though footage remains online after going viral on TikTok and Twitter). The church's version of Hamilton inserted religious messages by changing lyrics and themes, and also removed songs from the original production.
The damages will be donated to charity, according to a Hamilton spokesperson.
"I would like to personally apologize to the creator of Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the producers of Hamilton, and the numerous others who contributed their intellectual property to Hamilton, for staging an unauthorized production of Hamilton that infringed on the rights and copyrights of many," a statement posted by the pastor of The Door Christian Fellowship McAllen Church said.
The nondenominational church's website lists Roman Gutierrez as its senior pastor.
The church admitted to not asking for permission, nor receiving a license to produce, stage, replicate or alter any part of Hamilton. The lengthy apology also acknowledged that Hamilton's copyrights are protected by federal law.
"On behalf of The Door Christian Fellowship McAllen Church, we agree we will never stage the performance again and will destroy any and all video or sound recordings and images of the unauthorized performances or rehearsals, and request that all our members do the same," the church said in its statement, "Lastly, we will pay damages for our actions."
Earlier this month, Shane Marshall Brown, a spokesperson for Hamilton, said in a statement that they do not grant amateur or professional licenses for people to put on their own production. Lawyers for Hamilton sent the McAllen Church a cease-and-desist notice.
On Tuesday, Brown stated that the damages would be donated to the South Texas Equality Project, a partnership that supports the local LGBTQ+ community.
At the end of the church's version of Hamilton, a sermon is reportedly given in which a man says that God could help with struggles including homosexuality, broken marriages, drugs and alcohol.
Grateful to all of you who reached out about this illegal, unauthorized production. Now lawyers do their work.
— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) August 10, 2022
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
Footage from the unauthorized production of Hamilton went viral this month as people mocked the quality of the performance and also pointed out the choices in lyrics.
While some found the humor in the performance, many others, like the Dramatists Guild, and Miranda himself, disavowed the production. On August 10, Miranda wrote on Twitter: "Grateful to all of you who reached out about this illegal, unauthorized production. Now lawyers do their work."
Before Door Christian Fellowship McAllen Church issued its apology, Newsweek reached out to an unnamed party at the church who said they were unable to give a statement at that time.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jamie Burton is a Newsweek Senior TV and Film Reporter (Interviews) based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
