Lin-Manuel Miranda Talks Trump, Oscars and Social Media
By Hayden Wright
(RADIO.COM) – Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda was an outspoken Hillary Clinton supporter, using his considerable platform to advocate against the positions and attitudes of one Donald Trump. Now that Trump is our president-elect, the Broadway icon sat down with The Hollywood Reporter to give some advice for getting through the next four years. He began with a metaphor.
"I think it's important to eat your vegetables and I think it's important to eat your dessert," he said. "By which I mean, if you go down the wormhole with reading the worst news all the time, you're not going to be of any use to anyone. I think that's for anyone on Twitter regardless of your [politics]."
Miranda added that lending a positive outlook to social media can help make everyone's experience a little more positive.
"I try to stay as up-to-date on what's going on in the world as possible and yet provide an oasis and positivity on Twitter," he said. "I can't control the world, but I can control what I put into the world, so I try to have my timeline be a pretty bright spot for folks who may be fighting great fights elsewhere. Stay informed, but go read a very funny tweet or go read the AV Club—whatever your version of dessert is—but you need to do both."
The songwriter and playwright also discussed the prospect that he may become the youngest EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner in history—should his Oscar bid for the song score of Moana be successful. The record is currently held by a fellow graduate of Miranda's NYC elementary school, Frozen songwriter Bobby Lopez.
"You can't worry about that because you have no control over it," he said. "Why would you spend time on that? I lived through the thrill of seeing Bobby win the Tony for Avenue Q and it was the first time I saw someone on an award show I knew personally. I was like, "Oh my god, Bobby Lopez is winning a Tony Award!" Then I'm screaming in my house when he completed the EGOT for Frozen, so I've already had all those thrills vicariously through him. I'm good no matter what happens."
Hamilton's traveling tour arrives in San Francisco at the Orpheum Theatre from March 10th through August 5th.
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