June 13, 2016

Watch Lin-Manuel Miranda and James Corden Pay Tribute To Orlando At The Tony Awards

The ceremony was dedicated to the victims of the worst mass shooting in US history


The Tony Awards opened on Sunday night in New York with a tribute from host James Corden to the victims of this morning’s mass shooting in Orlando, now the deadliest in history.

“All around the world, people are trying to come to terms with the horrific events that took place in Orlando this morning,” Corden began, calling the massacre an atrocity. 

“All we can say you are not on your own right now; your tragedy is our tragedy,” he said, his voice shaking. “Theater is a place where every race, creed, sexuality, and gender is equal, is embraced, and is loved; hate will never win.”

“Together, we have to make sure of that,” Corden urged. “Tonight’s show stands as a symbol and a celebration of that principle.”

Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and star of Broadway’s hit “Hamilton,” addressed the tragedy in a sonnet he recited while accepting the award for best score. Tearfully, Miranda stated, “Love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love; Cannot be killed or swept aside.”

In his acceptance speech for “The Father,” legendary actor Frank Langella also shared a moving message with the victims in the Orlando shooting.

“I urge you Orlando to be strong because I’m standing in a room of the most generous humans on Earth and we will be with you every step of the way,” he said.

At around 2 a.m. Sunday, a man armed with an AR-15 and a handgun opened fire at a gay nightclub, killing 50 and injuring 53 more. Later in the morning, a heavily armed man was arrested by Santa Monica police on his way to the Los Angeles Pride Parade. June is National LGBT Pride month.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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