A local church that has drawn the ire of Broadway fans throughout the country for its portrayal of the popular show “Hamilton” has issued an apology.
The Door Christian Fellowship McAllen Church released a statement on its Facebook page and its website Tuesday in which they apologized for “staging an unauthorized production of Hamilton that infringed on the rights and copyrights of many.”
The statement specifically addressed Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, as well as its producers.
The church’s production drew controversy when several scenes and lyrics were changed to include biblical themes. The performance was followed by a 15-minute sermon that compared being gay to having an addiction.
News of the show reached the Hamilton creator who tweeted, “Grateful to all of you who reached out about this illegal, unauthorized production. Now lawyers do their work.”
In Tuesday’s statement, the church admitted to not asking for or receiving permission to produce the show.
“We respect the copyrights of Hamilton’s author and contributors,” the statement read. “These copyrights are protected by federal law. We acknowledge there are lawful avenues to obtain a license to stage properties which we did not pursue. And it is never permissible to alter an artistic work such as Hamilton without legal permission.”
“I recognize as the Pastor of the church that I have an obligation and responsibility to follow the law and educate our community about these protocols,” the statement continued. “Our ministry will use this moment as a learning opportunity about protected artistic works and intellectual property.”
Pastors from the church promised to never stage a performance of their rendition of Hamilton again, and asked for all recordings of photos taken during their show to be destroyed.
“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 our members do the same,” the statement read. “Lastly we will pay damages for our actions.”
A spokesman for “Hamilton” issued a statement Tuesday afternoon that said the production would donate all damages to the South Texas Equality Project, a coalition that supports the local LGBTQ community.
