Eugene Ramirez, a former national television anchor who quit Sinclair in 2024 over its conservative bias, bought tickets to the opening night of Chicago at the Kennedy Center, hoping to see the venue one last time before Trump’s two-year renovation shuts it down.
Trump showed up too, which Ramirez had not planned for, and when the president appeared in the balcony box, Ramirez booed and gave him a thumbs-down. Multiple security personnel arrived at his seat almost immediately.
“They don’t want booing,” Ramirez recalled a security official telling him, with the guard going out of his way to mention the thumbs-down gesture specifically. He was escorted to a side area, held until the house lights dimmed and the overture began, then allowed to return to his seat.
Ramirez said the security director told him he was “just trying to do his job,” shook his hand, and let him go once the show started. Ramirez said he did not blame the guard individually, noting that with the center closing in the coming months, “some of these security guards being pressured to restrict our freedom of speech may only have a few weeks of work left.”
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His read on the situation was sharper than that. “It was very clearly about protection – whether protecting the president from visible dissent, or his image before the media present. There was no disruption. Simply expressing dissent in a public, cultural space drew the attention of security.” He added: “Democracy only works when citizens are allowed to boo.”
The venue made the incident particularly poignant. The Kennedy Center was renamed the Trump-Kennedy Center in December 2025, despite questions about whether federal law permits such a change. It is set to close in July for what Trump has described as a complete overhaul. Ramirez said he attended specifically to see it before it changes.
The institution’s transformation has already taken casualties. Lin-Manuel Miranda canceled a planned staging of Hamilton tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary. Issa Rae scrapped a sold-out appearance. A Pride concert featuring the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and the National Symphony Orchestra was canceled. Some WorldPride 2025 events were moved after organizers said the Kennedy Center no longer felt welcoming.
For Ramirez, who is of Cuban heritage, the incident carried a meaning that went well beyond the Kennedy Center. “Being singled out by security at a federally funded institution for expressing dissent shouldn’t be brushed off; it undermines the First Amendment,” he said. “Being of Cuban heritage, and a journalist, it’s a right I’m not willing to give up readily.”
Featured image via YouTube screengrab
