Hamilton Actor Calls Out Crowd for Using Phones

The lead actor in a production of the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton has called out Salt Lake City theater-goers who pulled out their cellphones during performances in Utah. Soon after the show ended, Joseph Morales called the behavior shockingly rude in a tweet on Sunday, when he wrote: "SLC, you're killing me. Put your phones away. We can see you. This isn't a movie, What is up with you guys?" Twitter users quickly pointed out that several of the Hamilton shows overlapped with Utah Jazz playoff games, the AP reports, suggesting people were checking scores. That included Sunday, when the Jazz lost on the road to the Houston Rockets.

The basketball team came to Morales' defense Monday. The Jazz said on Twitter that fans should wait to check the score until after they're out of the theater. Cynthia Fleming, executive director of the Salt Lake Acting Company, tells the Salt Lake Tribune that it "takes you out of what you're doing" when people use electronic devices during a performance. "Instead of being in that moment, being that character, being in that reality, you go 'Oh, somebody's on their cellphones' in your head," she says. The Tribune notes that Hamilton actors have supported the Jazz, with several cast members attending a game during the production's night off last Monday.

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