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Vice President JD Vance and the second lady were loudly booed at the 2026 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Italy.
Just as Team USA received a warm welcome as they entered San Siro Stadium on Friday, the mood abruptly shifted when a close-up on the stadium’s jumbotron showed the Vances waving small American flags.
The crowd in Milan couldn’t help but make its feelings clear about United States leadership.
“There’s the vice president, JD Vance, and his wife, Usha,” NBC commentator Mary Carillo said before being interrupted by a cascade of jeers.
She appeared to be caught off-guard by the awkward moment during the Olympics’ Parade of Nations.
“Those are not — oh — those are a lot of boos for him,” Carillo uncomfortably continued, attempting to note there was “some applause” mixed in with the chants of disapproval.
According to USA Today, Vance was seated next to Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who was cheered when he was introduced.
The Israeli delegation also heard boos when it entered the stadium. Both the U.S. and Israel are experiencing periods of unpopularity abroad, due largely to their foreign and domestic politics, particularly the war in Gaza.
Friday wasn’t the first time the Vances have experienced being scoffed at while attending a prestigious event.
Last March, they were greeted by a loud chorus of boos upon arriving at a National Symphony Orchestra performance at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where Usha sits on President Trump’s handpicked Board of Trustees.
Numerous artists have canceled shows at the institution since Trump returned to power, demanded an end to “woke programming” and asked that the venue be called the Trump-Kennedy Center.
A comedy writer who once worked on “South Park” told the Washington Post in December that he acquired the domain name TrumpKennedyCenter.org. The URL now leads to photos of the president attending social events with convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Trump did not attend Friday’s opening ceremony in Milan.
