Vice President JD Vance gets booed at The Kennedy Center

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: NPR

March 14, 2025 12:30 PM ET


Symphony orchestra audiences aren't known for their rowdiness but Thursday night's concert at The Kennedy Center by the National Symphony Orchestra was a brief exception. As Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance entered the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, audience members booed loudly. Videos of the episode have gone viral on social media.

Usha Vance was recently appointed by President Trump to The Kennedy Center's Board of Trustees. Describing the scene in the Washington Classical Review, Charles T. Downey writes the Vances were "greeted less than cordially with a sustained chorus of loud booing."

"This video should challenge us all to commit to making the Kennedy Center a place where everyone is welcomed," writes Kennedy Center President Richard Grenell, a Trump appointee who is also the special presidential envoy for special missions, on X.

"It troubles me to see that so many in the audience appear to be white and intolerant of diverse political views. Diversity is our strength. We must do better. We must welcome EVERYONE. We will not allow the Kennedy Center to be an intolerant place." President Trump's shakeup of the institution has led to a number of artists such as Rhiannon Giddens and Issa Rae canceling performances and leaving advisory roles.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/03/14/nx-s1-5328234/jd-vance-boo-kennedy-center

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[Walleye]

1. I don't know if they really don't understand what diversity is or they're just so used to being third graders

They will use whatever misconception they can convince themselves of

[maxsolomon]

2. Maybe Grennell should have the patrons who boo arrested.

It's not "diverse political opinions" they're booing; it's JD Vance's asshole ACTIONS.

[travelingthrulife]

5. Exactly, Grennell is acting like their illegal/unethical actions are not the problem.

[Grokenstein]

3. "We must welcome EVERYONE."

I'm sure that's what your ideological forefathers told the French Resistance.

Get fucked.

[Diamond_Dog]

4. What the hell did he expect

He’s a pariah to just about everyone with a brain.

[bmichaelh]

6. Shostakovich

National Symphony Orchestra played Shostakovich.

When will Trump start purging certain types of music from the Kennedy Center.

Authoritarian societies do this.

Nazi Germany forbade Mendelssohn and some Bruch.
Shostakovich ran afoul of Stalin multiple times.

[Mz Pip]

7. Uh, oh

Grenell said “diversity.”