NEED TO KNOW
- Donald and Melania Trump were booed while attending their first show at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday, June 11.
- The first couple have long planned on attending the opening night performance of Les Misérables, which is one of the president’s favorite musicals.
- Several lead actors announced well in advance that they would be protesting the performance by refusing to take the stage — a reaction to Trump installing himself as chairman of the Kennedy Center in February and purging the “woke” members of the board.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump received a mix of boos and applause at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday, June 11, as they attended the opening performance of the musical Les Misérables.
The president and first lady were met with mixed reactions while walking out, as can be seen in videos posted to X.
Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, were also in attendance at the performance. The Vances were previously booed by a crowd in the same venue in March when they tried sitting in the Kennedy Center balcony to watch the National Symphony Orchestra.
Wednesday’s Les Mis performance was always expected to feature a slightly different cast than most Kennedy Center attendees will see during the show’s month-long run.
On May 7, CNN reported that at least 10 of the 12 actors in the musical were not planning to perform on the night the Trumps attended. According to sources who spoke to the outlet, the cast was given the option to not perform, and several ensemble members and starring cast members opted out.
The protest came after the president, just a few days into his second presidential term, installed himself as chairman of the Kennedy Center and purged most of its so-called “woke” leadership, installing a new board of conservative supporters in their place.
He also appointed Richard Grenell, a member of his administration, as the Center’s president and interim director.
In a statement at the time the protest was announced, Grenell said, “The Kennedy Center will no longer fund intolerance. Any performer who isn’t professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliation, won’t be welcomed.”
“In fact, we think it would be important to out those vapid and intolerant artists to ensure producers know who they shouldn’t hire – and that the public knows which shows have political litmus tests to sit in the audience,” he continued. “The Kennedy Center wants to be a place where people of all political stripes sit next to each other and never ask who someone voted for but instead enjoys a performance together.”
President Trump has proven himself to be a Les Mis fan in the past. In February, the U.S. Army Chorus performed the musical’s protest anthem, “Do You Hear the People Sing?,” at the 2025 White House Governors Ball.
He also incorporated the song into his 2016 and 2024 presidential campaigns, with The Guardian reporting in 2022 that the politician “bizarrely” blasted the song ahead of announcing his 2024 candidacy. Many see the president’s admiration for the song as an odd choice, given that the lyrics are sung from the point of view of French revolutionaries standing up against a powerful and corrupt ruling class.
The lyrics include, “Do you hear the people sing? / Singing the song of angry men?/ It is the music of the people / Who will not be slaves again!”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
After Trump used the song in 2016, producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh and the co-creators of Les Mis released a joint statement to express their disapproval that he was using the musical to bolster his political agenda.
“The authors of Les Misérables were not asked for permission and did not authorise or endorse usage of ‘Do You Hear the People Sing?’ at last [week’s] Trump rally in Miami, and have never done so for any of the songs from the musical for this or any other political event,” they wrote, per The Guardian.
Mackintosh’s statement continued, “As the musical’s popularity and universal message have been part of international popular culture for more than 30 years now, countless political and social movements around the world, including the first Bill Clinton and Obama campaigns, have independently embraced songs from the musical as a rallying cry for their own cause.”
Read the full article here
