When Vice President JD Vance took his seat Thursday night at the Kennedy Center in Washington, he was met with a chorus of boos from the packed concert hall. Vance and the second lady, Usha Vance, were attending a performance by the National Symphony Orchestra, which was already seated onstage when the crowd spotted the pair and erupted into loud boos and shouts for more than 30 seconds. The vice president waved and appeared to smile.
President Donald Trump has been trying to overhaul the institution, appointing a board of trustees that elected him as chair, setting the arts community on edge. Usha Vance, one of Trump’s board members, previously served on the board of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
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Vice President JD Vance was booed while attending a National Symphony Orchestra concert at The Kennedy Center on March 13. (Video: michael brodeur/The Washington Post)
A number of shows at the Kennedy Center, including the hit musical “Hamilton” and an appearance by actress, comedian and television producer Issa Rae, have been canceled since Trump’s unprecedented move, many in protest. Rae, in a statement, cited “an infringement on the values of an institution that has faithfully celebrated artists of all backgrounds through all mediums.”
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Thursday’s concert started 30 minutes late, after attendees waited in a long security line that packed the grand foyer ahead of the vice president’s arrival.
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After the outburst, patrons quickly settled into an attentive, quiet respect for the musicians, in a kind of whiplash. But intermission was full of people debriefing about what they had just experienced, a rarity in such venues.
The dramatic response to Vance’s arrival reflects a tense mood in the Washington arts world as it reels from recent events. Last month, when Trump’s board installed him as chair, it also voted to terminate Deborah Rutter as Kennedy Center president and made Trump ally Richard Grenell interim president, prompting a fallout that led musician Ben Folds, opera singer Renée Fleming and TV producer Shonda Rhimes to step down from their respective roles with the institution.
President Donald Trump has been trying to overhaul the institution, appointing a board of trustees that elected him as chair, setting the arts community on edge. Usha Vance, one of Trump’s board members, previously served on the board of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
0:34
Vice President JD Vance was booed while attending a National Symphony Orchestra concert at The Kennedy Center on March 13. (Video: michael brodeur/The Washington Post)
A number of shows at the Kennedy Center, including the hit musical “Hamilton” and an appearance by actress, comedian and television producer Issa Rae, have been canceled since Trump’s unprecedented move, many in protest. Rae, in a statement, cited “an infringement on the values of an institution that has faithfully celebrated artists of all backgrounds through all mediums.”
Advertisement
ADVERTISING
Thursday’s concert started 30 minutes late, after attendees waited in a long security line that packed the grand foyer ahead of the vice president’s arrival.
🎶
Follow Music
After the outburst, patrons quickly settled into an attentive, quiet respect for the musicians, in a kind of whiplash. But intermission was full of people debriefing about what they had just experienced, a rarity in such venues.
The dramatic response to Vance’s arrival reflects a tense mood in the Washington arts world as it reels from recent events. Last month, when Trump’s board installed him as chair, it also voted to terminate Deborah Rutter as Kennedy Center president and made Trump ally Richard Grenell interim president, prompting a fallout that led musician Ben Folds, opera singer Renée Fleming and TV producer Shonda Rhimes to step down from their respective roles with the institution.
