525,600 jokes

Twitter goes nuts over high school production of ‘RENT’ with this APPALLING twist

Scene from Broadway's

Picture this…

A crowd of family, friends and faculty gathers for the opening night of a high school’s latest theatrical undertaking.

This year’s production? Jonathan Larson’s 1996 rock opera, Rent.

It’s a bold move for the 13-17 year-old set, for sure. But handled maturely by the school’s drama department, the approachable musical could prove quite the educational experience for students, shining a spotlight on some heavy, worthwhile issues — addiction, homophobia and AIDS among them.

Related: Straight guy goes on homophobic rant about ‘Sense8’ and the Internet shuts. It. Down.

Now imagine that same crowd beginning to pick up on something that seems… off.

Then it sinks in — this particular school (supposedly) decided to make one huge and unfortunate change: Instead of AIDS, some of the characters have diabetes.

Wait… what?

That’s the story financial writer Chelsea Fagan shared on Twitter, via an admittedly unreliable source — some random bartender:

Credibility aside, the brand new urban legend went viral, attracting the finest parody Twitter has to offer, such as:

But that was just the beginning:

Others pointed out these glaringly heinous plot-points pertaining to the switch:

And some had RENT horror stories of their own:

While one person was reminded of an equally ridiculous Hairspray experience:

And this… different take on Fame:

Then there was this unthinkable work-around for In the Heights:

And whatever this is supposed to mean:

What if the same AIDS/diabetes alteration was applied to Angels in America, you ask?

And… scene.

 

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