"The people's president": Hillary Clinton receives standing ovation at closing performance of "The Color Purple"

Unlike Mike Pence's "Hamilton" experience, audience and the cast alike celebrated Clinton's theater appearance

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published January 9, 2017 6:24PM (EST)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016, file photo, Hillary Clinton addresses the Children's Defense Fund's Beat the Odds celebration at the Newseum in Washington. A federal court in New York is scheduled to release redacted copies Tuesday, Dec. 20, of the search warrant that allowed the FBI to dig into a trove of Clinton emails days before the presidential election. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File) (Associated Press)
FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016, file photo, Hillary Clinton addresses the Children's Defense Fund's Beat the Odds celebration at the Newseum in Washington. A federal court in New York is scheduled to release redacted copies Tuesday, Dec. 20, of the search warrant that allowed the FBI to dig into a trove of Clinton emails days before the presidential election. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File) (Associated Press)

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton received a standing ovation during a closing-night performance of "The Color Purple."

In addition to the audience chanting, "We love you, Hillary" and "God bless you," the former secretary of state and her spouse, former president Bill Clinton, appeared in selfies with their fans, as Slate reported on Monday.

The Clintons also received kind words from a cast member delivering the show's goodbye message. "There’s a lot of really awesome famous and notable people here today," said actress Patrice Covington. She then added, "I’m not going to call all of them out — I know you already know them." After that, she waved at the Clintons.

The reaction to Hillary Clinton's attendance at "The Color Purple" performance brings to mind the very different response that Vice President-elect Mike Pence elicited when he attended a performance of "Hamilton" in November. In addition to being booed by the audience (a reaction that the cast discouraged), he was treated to a speech by actor Brandon Dixon.

"We, sir — we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights," Dixon said at the time. "We truly hope that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us."

Trump later blasted the "Hamilton" cast on Twitter as follows:

It remains to be seen whether Trump will acknowledge the positive reception received by the Clintons in the "safe and special space" known as American theater.

 


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

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Related Topics ------------------------------------------

Donald Trump Elections 2016 Hamilton Hillary Clinton Mike Pence The Color Purple