‘Hamilton’ To Donate Financial Damages From Texas Church To LGBTQIA+ Coalition

deadline.com:

Producers of the global theatrical hit Hamilton say they will donate all damages paid by Texas’ Door McAllen Church for two unlicensed and lyrically altered performances to the South Texas Equality Project, a coalition of LGBTQIA+ organizations.The church, officially called The Door Christian Fellowship McAllen Church, posted a public apology yesterday and agreed to pay damages for two unauthorized performances of Hamilton earlier this month that included altered lyrics promoting an overtly Christian message.

A sermon delivered by an associate pastor following one performance likened homosexuality to drug abuse.A spokesman for the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical said today that all damages paid by the church will be donated to The South Texas Equality Project, a coalition of organizations that “work to advocate for, celebrate, uplift, educate, and provide support to the LGBTQIA+ community of the Rio Grande Valley.”The damages amount has not been disclosed.In a statement posted yesterday on Door McAllen’s website, the church acknowledged  that it “did not ask for, or receive, a license from the producers or creators of Hamilton to produce, stage, replicate or alter any part of Hamilton,” nor did it “seek prior permission to alter Lin-Manuel Miranda’s work by changing the music, the lyrics, deleting songs, and adding dialogue.”The altered productions, staged by the church’s RGV Productions on Aug.

5 & 6, drew widespread condemnation after footage of the performances went viral on social media. On Aug. 10, Miranda tweeted, “Grateful to all of you who reached out about this illegal, unauthorized production.