Sat Mar 15 12:50:00 UTC 2025: ## Vice President Booed at Kennedy Center Amidst Trump’s “Maga Takeover”
**Washington, D.C.** – Vice President JD Vance faced a hostile reception at a National Symphony Orchestra concert at the Kennedy Center Thursday evening. As he and his wife, Usha, entered their box seats, the audience erupted in boos and jeers, shouting phrases like “You ruined this place!” The incident, highly unusual for a classical music performance, briefly overshadowed the concert, which featured works by Shostakovich and Stravinsky.
The disruption followed a controversial takeover of the Kennedy Center by the Trump administration earlier this year. President Trump replaced the board of trustees, installing his close ally Richard Grenell as interim director and appointing Usha Vance – herself a former board member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra – to the new board. Trump declared the takeover aimed to rid the institution of “woke” programming and “anti-American propaganda.”
The concert’s all-Russian program became a source of nervous jokes amongst the audience, given Vance’s recent criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, an action seen as supporting Russia’s position.
The protest against Vance is the latest demonstration of resistance to the Trump administration’s influence on the Kennedy Center. The producers of the Broadway hit *Hamilton* have withdrawn their planned 2026 run, and several artists have cancelled appearances. Even performers on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage displayed banners calling for the reinstatement of LGBTQ+ programming and the protection of artistic freedom.
The incident further highlights the deep political divisions impacting American cultural institutions. Vance, who once admitted in a New York Times interview that he was surprised to learn people enjoyed classical music for pleasure, now finds himself at the center of a culture war raging over the future of the Kennedy Center and the arts in America. Interim director Grenell dismissed the audience reaction as “intolerant,” while the protests continue to grow.
First Piper 