Cheers for Team USA were drowned out by jeers when the screens in San Siro Stadium showed the vice president and his wife
US President Donald Trump expressed surprise after hearing that Vice President J.D. Vance was booed at the Olympics opening ceremony in Italy.
The Winter Olympics officially opened on Friday, with the traditional Parade of Nations at Milan’s iconic San Siro Stadium.
Team USA entered the stadium to applause, though when the cameras briefly showed Vance and his wife Usha waving American flags from the stands, the booing began.
“Oops… those are a lot of boos for him… whistling, jeering, some applause. Not a long shot for him on the screen there,” CBC commentator said on the live feed. The video quickly went viral on social media.
Trump, speaking aboard Air Force One on Friday, said he hadn’t seen the broadcast but found the reception “surprising.”
Given his and his president’s attitudes and actions, the booing was nothing surprising. Has anything like this ever happened to an American politician at the official opening of the Games in Olympic history? pic.twitter.com/1ZVqOK0zt5
“That’s surprising because people like him,” he said, adding that Vance is “in a foreign country, in all fairness – he doesn’t get booed in this country.”
Reporter: ”Did you see that the VP Vance got booed at the Olympics?”
Trump: ”That’s surprising because people like him.”
“In my 22 Olympics it probably has happened but I sure don’t remember it,” longtime USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan wrote on X. Some people suggested the frosty welcome was linked to public discontent over recent US policies.
It’s very rare to hear boos at an Olympic opening ceremony. In my 22 Olympics it probably has happened but I sure don’t remember it. Vice President JD Vance just got booed when he appeared on the big screen. The US athletes, on the other hand, received loud cheers.
US-EU relations have been strained since Trump returned to office last year, marked by trade disputes, tariffs, digital regulation clashes, the Ukraine conflict, and Trump’s threats to take over Greenland, an autonomous territory of EU member Denmark.
Domestic unrest over Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement also appears to have spilled into Italy. Hundreds protested in Milan on Friday against the presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel assigned to provide security for the US delegation.
Vance was not alone in getting booed. Team Israel also received a frosty welcome. They said they anticipated a hostile reception due to the Gaza conflict and global support for the Palestinians.
The Winter Olympics run from February 6 to 22. Thirteen Russian athletes will compete under neutral flags due to Russia’s Olympic Committee suspension over Ukraine-related sanctions – a decision Moscow has denounced as political.
