Social media users are cackling after a TikTok video cut together clips of Vice President Kamala Harris being greeted by a Kennedy Center audience versus how Vice President J.D. Vance was during a concert at the venue this week.
On Thursday night, Vance and his wife Usha entered the mezzanine of The Kennedy Center only to be booed loudly by audience members.
TikTok account @clipsofkamala decided to compare this reception with how Harris and Emhoff were greeted at the Kennedy Center several months ago.
And the contrast is striking.
You can watch the supercut in the video below.
@clipsofkamala jd vance getting booed yes please #politics 🎥 @Andrew__Roth
The difference is extremely telling—and social media users rubbed it in Vance's face.
He was run out of ski country in Vermont, now booed at the Kennedy Center, you would think that idiot would stay home! Nobody wants him.
— Bobbie Foley Pitkin (@bobbiefoleypitkin.bsky.social) March 13, 2025 at 11:49 PM
he is literally getting booed by classical music fans. now that's got to sting.
— rizzyricardo.bsky.social (@rizzyricardo.bsky.social) March 14, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Vance appeared at the Kennedy Center along with his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance, for the National Symphony Orchestra's performance of Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 2 and Stravinsky’s "Petrushka."
Audience members reported that added security measures delayed the concert by 20 minutes and that the Vances stayed for the entire concert.
The incident highlighted the backlash against President Donald Trump’s decision last month to overhaul the Kennedy Center’s traditionally bipartisan board by removing President Biden’s appointees and installing himself as chairman. Trump, who broke with tradition by skipping the Kennedy Center Honors during his first term after some honorees criticized him, claimed the center had become too “wokey.”
In the shake-up, Trump removed the Kennedy Center’s longtime chairman, financier David M. Rubenstein, its largest donor. A newly appointed board of loyalists then elected Trump as chairman and dismissed Deborah F. Rutter, who had served as the center’s president for over a decade. At least three other senior staff members were also let go.
Trump has not yet detailed his plans for the center though many fear Trump’s calls to eliminate “woke” influences, drag shows, and what he described as “anti-American propaganda” will significantly reshape the center’s programming.
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