An enthusiastic welcome for American athletes at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics opening ceremony quickly soured when cameras focused on Vice President JD Vance.
Team USA, led by speedskater and flag bearer Erin Jackson, was among the final delegations to parade into Milan’s San Siro stadium on Friday.
While the crowd cheered for the athletes, jeers and whistles erupted as Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, appeared on stadium screens, waving American flags.
Commentators highlighted this distinct shift in the crowd’s reception.
“There’s the vice president and his wife, Usha; those are not, oh, those are a lot of boos for him,” one commentator said on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s coverage.
The Independent’s Flo Clifford reported from inside San Siro stadium, “A largely positive reception for the U.S. contingent. There are thousands of American fans in the stadium – but very definite boos and jeers for vice president JD Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, who the camera pans to waving American flags for a few brief seconds.”
Support for the U.S. among its allies has been eroding as the Trump administration has taken an aggressive posture on foreign policy, including imposing tariffs, military action in Venezuela and threats to invade Greenland.
On social media, viewers at home noted hearing the boos as well. It comes after International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry urged spectators to be “respectful” toward U.S. athletes after worldwide backlash over Trump’s immigration raids and the killing of two Americans by border officers in Minnesota.
Jeers also rang out when Israel’s delegation entered the stadium.
Besides Milan, athlete parades were held in three other locations: Cortina d’Ampezzo, Livigno and Predazzo. The Games are staged across a vast area of northern Italy, making them the most geographically dispersed Winter Olympics in history.
