There’s one thing about Donald Trump which you’d never expect: he loooves musical theater. He loves a classic Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. He loves a Broadway opening. That’s partly why Trump and his people have been putting their fascist stink on the Kennedy Center! Trump desperately wanted to see some musical theater in DC, but he also didn’t want to be booed. He did all of that just so he could watch a live musical in peace. So, of course, they booed his dinosaur butt last night, at the Kennedy Center opening of Les Miserables.
President Donald Trump drew charged reactions of both admiration and ire at the Kennedy Center’s opening night of “Les Misérables” – with a greeting of cheers and boos, drama at intermission and drag queens in the audience.
When the lights came on after the end of the first act Wednesday, many people cheered and clapped as the president and First Lady Melania Trump stood up. But a woman below, seated in the orchestra section, started yelling: “Felon, you’re a convicted felon.”
As cheers died down, and Trump walked out, her voice became clearer: “Convicted felon, rapist!” A security guard quickly approached, appearing to escort her out.
As the crowd waited anxiously for Trump to return to his seat, someone yelled out: “F**k Trump,” and the crowd responded by cheering and clapping loudly. Some yelled out: “We love you.” Others booed, and then an even louder cheer erupted when Trump appeared again.
He pumped his fist in the air three times – reminiscent of how he rallied his supporters after an assassination attempt against him last year in Pennsylvania, when he made the same motion and shouted to the crowd: “Fight, fight, fight.”
I love all of the stories and videos of people booing him and calling him a felon and rapist (he is both). About a dozen Les Mis performers planned on sitting out the performance with Trump in the audience, although I don’t know if that actually happened. Just the threat of actors sitting out was enough to make MAGAWorld enraged. I’m seeing some reports that ten actors took “vacation days” for the opening! The Kennedy Center’s subscriptions have plummeted because Washingtonians with taste want nothing to do with the nouveau MAGA Center for Performing Arts. Hilariously, it looks like Trump ordered all of his lackeys to attend the opening night, and very few of them share Trump’s love of musical theater. And what a musical too – a story of revolution against a despot.
This also happened – JD Vance desperately trying to sound like a manly man who knows nothing about musical theater.
That’s apparently a different thing called “Sweeney Todd”
— JD Vance (@JDVance) June 11, 2025
At the Kennedy Center, half the theater just started clapping when a group of drag queens showed up to find their seats at opening night of Les Miserables, which Trump, Melania, Vance and their top allies have all come out to see. pic.twitter.com/1WJHsGL987
— Shawn McCreesh (@ShawnMcCreesh) June 11, 2025
Donald Trump getting booed at the Kennedy Center made my night.
— Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) June 12, 2025
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
-
- Washington, DIST – United States President Donald J Trump and First Lady Melania Trump walk out of the South Portico towards the Beast as they head to the opening night of “Les Miserables” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Credit: Samuel Corum / Pool via CNP /MediaPunch Pictured: President Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 11 JUNE 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Washington, DIST – United States President Donald J Trump and First Lady Melania Trump walk out of the South Portico towards the Beast as they head to the opening night of “Les Miserables” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Credit: Samuel Corum / Pool via CNP /MediaPunch Pictured: President Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 11 JUNE 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
-
- Washington, DIST – United States President Donald J Trump and First Lady Melania Trump walk out of the South Portico towards the Beast as they head to the opening night of “Les Miserables” at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Credit: Samuel Corum / Pool via CNP /MediaPunch Pictured: President Donald Trump BACKGRID USA 11 JUNE 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: MediaPunch / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Good. Let’s keep up this energy. It’s going to a long 3 and a half years.
If we survive that long.
If the constitution lasts that long – they ‘big beautiful bill’ will enshrine in law his right to ignore election results he doesn’t like.
The Kennedy Center doesn’t have just one main theater. It has several smaller ones, conference rooms, halls, ballrooms. They hold many different types of art and social events there. Plays, murder mystery theater, children’s art events, military balls. Just some examples. And selfish Trump is ruining it.
Like all things that benefit the public good, Trump wants to take them away. The House votes today on clawing back all federal funding for PBS, NPR, and countless other local public radio stations across the country, by defunding the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Please call your reps in Congress, be they Democrat or Republican! 5Calls makes it easy. https://5calls.org/
He ruins everything I care about. From democracy to theater (and other things I’m afraid to even mention as that will give them ideas). Loved going to the Kennedy Center.
Yeah I am not going to see a thing over there for the next three years. Last time I read anything on this was that faking Robert Grendel was trying to sue LMM for not letting Hamilton perform there.
Love how the queens made a dramatic, triumphant entrance instead of just going to their seats.
And he really piled on the Oompa Loompa makeup, didn’t he?
Loved that grand sashay entrance!
What a great way to protest— by proudly celebrating who you are.
💗💗💗💗💗💗💗🔥
Soooo Orange! Glad he was booed, deserves it.
Is it just me? In videos I have watched, the boos were much louder and more noticeable than the cheers. The CNN article makes it sound like the MAGA chorus was winning and it was just a few troublemakers who had to be removed who were booing. The drag queens’ arrival was chef’s kiss 🤌.
Someone more talented in tech than me should put together a video of audiences cheering MVP Harris when she goes to the theater in contrast to the reception both Trump and Vance get. And did Vance actually think Les Mis was Sweeney Todd? In any case, I’m sure they were both there to cheer on Javert.
So he got booed in the theater. Why couldn’t it have been another Lincoln situation. Oh well maybe next time.
I agree…Maybe he will go to a play at the Lincoln Theater….hope abounds….
I take it that it was his lackeys cheering for him. They knew he would be booed. It’s D.C. They booed him at a baseball game in his first term.
I actually want them all to watch Les miserables. Then I want trump to compare his rightful trials to the characters of the play. Then I want him to overhaul our prison industrial complex. They put people in jail for decades for nothing. Criminal justice reform now.
You know trump will see himself as a freedom fighter. Maybe the play can do some good.
Unfortunately they have PhDs in cognitive dissonance so are unlikely to see the parallels.
Les Miserables is my favorite book (I’ve read it at least 15 times) and my favorite musical.
Jean Valjean may be a ‘criminal’ but he initially acted out of love and circumstance and then spends the rest of his life trying to make up for his crimes by being a good person. Javert believes the law is black and white and you’re either good or bad, but in the end realizes that there are grey areas where a person can be both. Then there’s the plight of the poor and their struggles. Showing how social injustice affects their lives and can lead them down the path to criminality, and they can never rise above their social status because they are constantly beaten down. All themes that are still very relevant today!
Trump may see Les Mis but obviously he doesn’t actually get the message. How I wish he did though – then he might actually improve life for the citizens who need it, instead of flippantly taking so many things away and furthering the suffering of millions.
For me, Lea Mis is the musical by which all others are judged. While I don’t love the redesigned set (I miss the drama of the barricade folding in from the wings, and turning to reveal the fallen revolutionists!), it’s still an amazing production!
If only our Dear Leader was capable of having a Come to Jesus moment, ala Javert! But that would require some level of self-awareness…
He definitely doesn’t see the parallels.
Trump IS the misery so the show title was appropriate. He’s the president of Kennedy Center now too, right? Why doesn’t Congress disband since they’ve granted all their duties as one of the three branches of government to Trump? He rules alone with a sharpie. A disgrace and an end to democracy.
Somehow he looks even fatter in a tux.
This Guardian article about their attendance is wonderful. It says it like it is. Highly recommend.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/12/boos-cheers-and-a-heavy-dose-of-irony-as-trump-takes-in-les-mis-against-backdrop-of-la-protests