Lin-Manuel Miranda says Immortal Technique bullied him in high school
“He was a really angry kid and it’s been wonderful to watch him grow up and find a political outlet for that anger,” Miranda said.
While speaking on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast this week, Lin-Manuel Miranda revealed that he was bullied when he attended Hunter College High School in New York. Interestingly enough, he claimed that he was picked on by a student named Felipe Coronel, whose now known as the activist and rapper Immortal Technique.
“He really made sort of an incredible life for himself as a rapper. He was our school bully,” the 36-year-old Hamilton creator said. “He terrorized kids, he threw them in the garbage. I got thrown in the garbage by him.”
Miranda also reminisced about being cast in the same play as Coronel. “I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m in a fucking play with the dude that scares the shit out of all my friends!’”
Still, Miranda said that he’s excited for the success of his former classmate’s rap career. “He’s one of the most political, ideological [rappers]; he really made an incredible life for himself as a rapper,” he explained. “He was a really angry kid and it’s been wonderful to watch him grow up and find a political outlet for that anger.”
After most media outlets led with bullying angle of the interview, Miranda hopped on Twitter to convince folks that he has nothing but love for the 38-year-old rapper. “Don’t fall for the clickbait headline,” he wrote, “Nothing but love for [Immortal Technique], a voice for the voiceless in his music, always. Pa’lante ‘mano.”
Listen to the full episode of the podcast here.