Did JD Vance get bood at the Winter Olympics?
Executive summary
Yes — when Vice President J.D. Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance appeared on the stadium screens during the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, parts of the crowd booed and jeered; multiple international outlets described audible boos and whistles even as other segments of the arena applauded Team USA [1] [2] [3]. U.S. viewers’ experience differed by feed: some broadcasters showed the reaction while NBC’s U.S. coverage appears to have minimized or cut the booing [4] [3].
1. What happened in the stadium: boos, jeers and mixed reaction
As the parade of nations unfolded at San Siro, cameras briefly framed Vance and his wife waving small American flags and that shot was met with audible jeers and whistles from parts of the crowd — described as “scattered” or a “smattering” of boos by news organizations — even though many athletes and much of the U.S. team were cheered by spectators [1] [2] [3].
2. International press and U.S. outlets agree the boos were real
The New York Times and Reuters both reported that boos were audible when Vance was shown on the big screens, framing the reaction as an expression of local anger about U.S. policy and related protests, and Sports Illustrated and Newsweek published contemporaneous accounts and video clips showing the crowd’s reaction [1] [2] [3] [5].
3. Why people booed: political context and local protests
Reporting linked the reaction to wider Italian opposition to U.S. immigration policy after disclosures about ICE-linked analysts supporting U.S. security efforts at the Games; demonstrators staged “ICE OUT” protests in Milan the same day, and journalists tied the stadium jeers to that political backdrop [1] [3] [2].
4. Coverage differences: what American viewers saw
The Guardian and other outlets noted a notable difference across television feeds: Canadian broadcaster CBC and other international feeds captured commentators saying “those are a lot of boos,” while NBC’s U.S. broadcast appeared to cut or minimize the crowd dissent when the camera showed Vance — a discrepancy that became part of the post-ceremony conversation [4] [3].
5. How pronounced and representative were the boos?
Descriptions vary: some reports emphasize “definite boos and jeers” and that the reaction was audible despite loud ceremony music, while others call it a “scattering” or “smattering,” suggesting the jeers were real but not necessarily a unanimous stadium response; outlets uniformly note that the mood in many parts of the venue remained festive and that U.S. athletes received strong cheers when on screen [1] [6] [2] [3].
6. What officials and others said after the moment
IOC officials urged respect and warned against politicizing athlete ceremonies, and media noted President Trump’s public surprise at the reports; coverage emphasized the Olympic tension between politics and the Games’ ideal of apolitical celebration [4] [1].
7. Limits of the record and caveats
The factual record in these sources documents audible boos at the moment Vance was shown and documents broadcast differences, but none of the cited reporting supplies a scientific measure of crowd volume, nor do they claim the entire stadium was hostile — reporting uses terms like “scattered” or “smattering,” and video clips show both booing and applause depending on the moment and feed [1] [2] [3] [4]. There is thus clear evidence that Vance was booed, but not that the boos represented a universal or sustained stadium consensus.