J.D. Vance Booed As He Takes His Seat At The Kennedy Center – Deadline
By Tom Tapp Deputy Managing Editor
President Donald Trump may have purged the Kennedy Center board and had himself elected its new chairman, but the venue’s patrons don’t seem to have gotten the message.
As Trump’s Vice President JD Vance walked to his seat in the balcony, a chorus of boos began. Once he was in his seat, Vance waved, said something to second lady Usha Vance — whom Trump recently appointed to the board — and smiled. The boos then spread more broadly across the venue.
You can watch the moment, captured by The Guardian’s Global Affairs Correspondent Andrew Roth below.Boos for JD Vance as he enters tonight’s concert at the Kennedy Center pic.twitter.com/IWTsJUWjCR
While the venue’s calendar of events has been wiped clean, tonights event looks to have been a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra.
Watch on Deadline
The incident comes after a number of artists have canceled their performances at the Kennedy Center in protest of the takeover. That includes the producers of Hamilton, which dropped plans for a 2026 run of the show. Shonda Rhimes resigned from the institution’s board, and Issa Rae canceled a show scheduled for the venue.
Meanwhile, Trump has faced backlash from supporters after the Kennedy Center canceled the touring children’s musical Finn.
On February 20, The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC also shared in a statement they were “deeply disappointed” after the Kennedy Center cancelled of A Peacock Among Pigeons, their Pride performance with the National Symphony Orchestra.
In early February, Trump threatened to make the Kennedy Center “GREAT AGAIN,” announcing his plan to remove those “who do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture.”
Trump fired the chairman of the Kennedy Center, David Rubenstein, and ousted the president, Deborah Rutter. Trump also booted Joe Biden’s appointees to the board of the institution. With the board now filled with his allies, Trump then had himself elected chairman, with one of his loyalists, Ric Grenell, serving as president.
Grenell commented on the video of the booing of Vance. “The intolerant Left are radicals who can’t even sit in the same room with people that don’t vote like they do. What has happened to today’s Democrats? They are so intolerant,” he wrote.
But Trump has blasted the Kennedy Center for what he considers to be “woke” programming, pointing to an appearance of “drag shows.” After the takeover, the Kennedy Center dropped a concert being planned as part of World Pride celebrations.
“We will soon announce a new Board, with an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!” he added. “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP. The Kennedy Center is an American Jewel, and must reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation. For the Kennedy Center, THE BEST IS YET TO COME!”Get our Breaking News Alerts and Keep your inbox happy.Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters
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Source: http://deadline.com/2025/03/j-d-vance-booed-kennedy-center-1236326215/
