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Ok... Remember when they said there wouldn’t be time in the telecast for me to perform “Michael in the Bathroom,” but then they did a three and a half minute parody of it with four white people? I do. (Ppl thought I was in that fifth stall. I was in Brooklyn.)
I sang that song hundreds of times before we even got the show to NYC and watching it get such blatant whitewash treatment felt like they were speaking to me through the tv and letting me know I’m not welcome to the fanciest night on Broadway.
Whether this was intentional or not, it shows a lack of awareness that is HARMFUL to people of color. It wrecked me and made me feel unwelcome. It made me feel like I wasn’t good enough and may never be good enough no matter how many millions of times the song streamed...
...without the help of the Broadway machine. Imagine how a little aspiring brown theater kid would’ve felt to see someone like them singing the big number from a Broadway musical on stage at Radio City Music Hall. Did you inspire anyone with your whitewashed version?
No. You had a segue from a commercial break back into the awards show. I truly hope that the gate keepers recognize their decades of wrongdoing and make a concerted effort to right those wrongs and earn back the trust of all the POC’s whose trust they’ve lost.
Broadway has a really special opportunity to raise up and amplify voices. Not just one non-white voice per year. There’s enough talent, I’ve seen it. Get it together and don’t screw this up. Thanks for reading. Wear a mask. Fight for change. Vote Trump out in November. 
CC: @TheWing
