#NameAPenceMusical — Tweet suggesting 'Springtime for Hitler' as a Mike Pence musical with a staged Nazi production photo

#NameAPenceMusical

2016hashtagdead

Published November 13, 2026

On November 18th, 2016, Vice President-elect Mike Pence sat through a performance of Hamilton and received a direct address from the cast asking the incoming administration to work for all Americans. Within hours, Broadway fans on Twitter answered with #NameAPenceMusical, swapping words in famous musical titles to mock Pence's record on LGBTQ rights and conservative social policy.

hashtag memes political satire memes pun memes lgbtq memes 2016 memes

Overview

Posts under the tag work as one-line puns, rewording a familiar musical so the new title points at Pence's conservative politics, especially his opposition to LGBTQ protections as governor of Indiana. Submissions include swaps like "Les Deplorables" for Les Misérables and jabs tying Pence to anti-gay policy, with the Raw Story roundup collecting dozens of entries under the headline "Les Deplorables"3.

The joke relies on readers knowing both the source title and Pence's record, so most posts are one tweet with no image attached. Buzzfeed's writeup framed the tag as musical-theater Twitter trolling Pence, noting the puns ranged from gentle wordplay to pointed attacks on his HIV, abortion and gay-rights stances2. Huffington Post likewise placed the hashtag inside the broader fallout from the Hamilton audience booing Pence on the night of his visit4.

Origin & Background

Platform
Twitter
Creator
@WhizChem
Date
2016

On the night of November 18th, 2016, Vice President-elect Mike Pence attended a performance of Hamilton at the Richard Rodgers Theater in New York City, where parts of the audience booed his arrival5. At the end of the show, actor Brandon Victor Dixon, who played Aaron Burr, read a prepared statement from the stage asking the incoming Trump administration to "work on behalf of all Americans," a message the official Hamilton account posted to Twitter that same night1.

As the clip circulated, Twitter user @WhizChem posted what KYM documents as the first #NameAPenceMusical entry, joking that the only musical Pence would be cheered at was "Springtime for Hitler," the fake Nazi musical from the 1967 film The Producers6. Other musical-theater fans picked up the format the same evening and into November 19th.

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How It Spread

The tag picked up steam on November 19th and 20th, 2016, as Broadway-leaning Twitter accounts stacked entries onto the thread while the Hamilton-Pence story was the top political item of the weekend4. Buzzfeed's Julia Reinstein published a roundup on November 19th titled "People Are Trolling Mike Pence By Making Up Musicals About Him," screenshotting entries that reworded Rent, Chicago, Wicked and Hamilton itself2.

Raw Story covered the same batch under the "Les Deplorables" banner on November 20th, pitching the tag as part of the running "Hamilton-gate" news cycle that President-elect Donald Trump had stoked with his tweets demanding an apology from the cast3. Huffington Post's writeup grouped the posts with wider Twitter reaction to the booing and the cast statement4.

Coverage faded within the week as the Hamilton story moved off the front pages, and the tag did not return in any sustained way after November 2016.

Timeline

2016-11-18

Mike Pence attends Hamilton at the Richard Rodgers Theater; parts of the audience boo.

2016-11-18

Actor Brandon Victor Dixon reads the cast's statement to Pence from the stage after the show.

2016-11-19

The Hamilton Twitter account posts video of Dixon's statement, which spreads overnight.

2016-11-19

@WhizChem posts what KYM documents as the first #NameAPenceMusical entry, naming "Springtime for Hitler."

2016-11-19

Buzzfeed publishes a roundup of the hashtag.

2016-11-20

Raw Story and Huffington Post cover the tag as part of the wider "Hamilton-gate" story.

How to Use This Meme

The common convention is to take a well-known musical, change one or two words so the new title references Pence's policy record (often around LGBTQ rights, HIV response or abortion), and post it with the tag. Posts are typically text-only tweets. A joke usually lands better when the pun still scans as a real Broadway title.

Frequently Asked Questions