Vance booed at Milan Olympics opening as thousands protest ICE presence

Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance were audibly booed and jeered at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics opening ceremony when their image appeared on stadium screens, in a reaction broadcast on international television. Thousands of Italians had protested in Milan's streets in the days before the ceremony after it was confirmed that ICE staff were embedded in U.S. Olympic security planning. The IOC publicly praised "diplomacy" after the incident, and the CBC broadcast captured the extent of the crowd's reaction that American networks muted.