In a developing story out of New York City, local progressive Aimee Weathers has been taking a stand for fair housing by refusing to sing along to Benny the landlord’s parts when enjoying the original Broadway cast recording of the musical Rent.
“It’s been hard,” Weathers admitted sadly. “But now that my eyes have been opened to the injustices perpetrated by landlords in our broken capitalistic system, I’ve decided to refrain from singing along to Benny’s parts during classic Rent songs like ‘You’ll See’ and ‘Tune Up #2.’”
“If I can make a difference by refusing to sing along to the words of a corporate sellout like Benny, it will all be worth it,” Weathers added before uploading a video to Twitter of herself slowly ripping a headshot of Taye Diggs in half.
Some have applauded Weathers’ efforts.
“She’s really trying,” said Weathers’ roommate, Tina Adams. “Like, the other day, we were kind of singing along to ‘Seasons of Love,’ and she just went totally silent and started staring at me. I tried to tell her it was an ensemble number, so she could still sing along, but she just said ‘Benny’s IN the ensemble’ and refused to start singing again until we hit ‘Happy New Year.’”
“I haven’t seen her this worked up since she stopped singing along to Skimbleshanks’ parts in CATS to protest the appointment of Pete Buttigieg to Secretary of Transportation,” added Adams.
But others have questioned the efficacy of Weathers’s protest.
“I mean, she’s not actually accomplishing anything. Right?” asked Weathers’ boyfriend, Tom Margolis. “Like, she’s not donating to mutual aid programs or trying to push legislation for affordable housing, right? I’m genuinely asking. I don’t know that much about musicals.”
Margolis added, shaking his head, “It’s like I keep telling her. Just because you don’t sing along to Aaron Burr’s parts in Hamilton doesn’t mean you’re a gun control advocate. You have to, you know, like, do things.”
Regardless, Weathers remains undeterred.
“I’m not sure why people think my protest is largely performative and devoid of helpful action,” mused Weathers. “I mean, it feels like it’s straight out of Rent itself.”
At press time, Weathers had decided to delay calling her senator to demand that Donald Trump be held accountable for inciting an attempted insurrection of the government in favor of refusing to sing along to John Wilkes Booth’s parts in Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins.
