A loud chorus of boos greeted Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, when they arrived to attend a National Symphony Orchestra performance at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Curse words and other unpleasantries can be heard on video as the Republican politician enters the Washington, D.C. cultural institution Thursday night. Vance waves as one audience member shouts “You ruined this place!,” according to The Guardian.
The concert reportedly began 25 minutes late as security prepared for the vice president’s visit.
Several artists have canceled their Kennedy Center performances since Trump took over the arts institution and moved to reshape it in his image. That has included terminating many of its longstanding bipartisan board members and installing his own, including Usha Vance, country singer Lee Greenwood and Fox News personalities.
Those newly appointed board members then “unanimously elected” Trump as Kennedy Center chairman.
Last week, the Kennedy Center released a long list of shows that had been canceled either by the artists involved or due to a lack of ticket sales. Perhaps most notable was the cancellation of the award-winning musical “Hamilton.”
“Given these recent actions, our show simply cannot, in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center,” said the show’s lead producer Jeffrey Seller.
Kennedy Center interim President Richard Grenell, Trump’s longtime foreign policy adviser, said the Vances’ Thursday night greeting represented an unacceptable attitude of intolerance.
“We must do better,” he wrote on social media. “We must welcome EVERYONE.”