Vice President JD Vance took time away from awkwardly ordering donuts and yelling at foreign allies to attend a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center Thursday night. As he and second lady Usha Vance settled into their seats, they were met with a chorus of boos and jeers from the audience.
The boos lasted for about 30 seconds, according to witnesses. The Vances’ appearance is said to have delayed the show by 20 minutes due to security logistics. The two stayed through the performance.
Kennedy Center spokesperson Roma Daravi did not respond to The New York Times’ request for comment on the outburst.
Last month, President Donald Trump announced that he was dismissing the longtime chairman of the Kennedy Center board, and named himself chair. “We took over the Kennedy Center. We didn’t like what they were showing,” Trump said at the time. “We’re going [to] make sure that it’s good and it’s not going [to] be woke.” Trump later boasted that he had been “unanimously” voted in as its new chairman.
Trump’s blunt attack on the historically bipartisan art center has led to considerable fallout. Multiple artists resigned from the institution, and the creators of “Hamilton” canceled an upcoming eight-week revival run of the successful musical, which was set to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Second lady Vance is one of the many Trump loyalists stuck on the Kennedy Center board. She is joined by other Trump acolytes like patriotic singer Lee Greenwood, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, senior adviser Dan Scavino, Attorney General Pam Bondi, and Fox News’ Laura Ingraham—to name a few.
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