JD Vance, the US vice-president, was booed by the audience as he took his seat at a National Symphony Orchestra concert at Washington’s Kennedy Center on Thursday evening.
As the normal pre-concert announcements got under way, the vice-presidential party filed into the box tier. Booing and jeering erupted in the hall, drowning out the announcements, as Vance and his wife, Usha, took their seats.
Such a vocal, impassioned political protest was a highly unusual event in the normally polite and restrained world of classical music.
Vance ironically acknowledged the yelling and shouts of “You ruined this place!” with a smile and a wave.
They should have kept booing until he was forced to leave. Nothing gets to proceed in the presence of Nazis. And if that means the show is canceled or ruined, so be it. We’ve already had far worse things ruined this week.