Camilla Jessen
US viewers miss crowd reaction to JD Vance at opening ceremony.
US Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, attended the opening ceremony on Friday at San Siro Stadium in Milan.
When cameras focused on the couple shortly after the US team entered the stadium, a loud and sustained chorus of boos rang out from parts of the crowd.
Journalists present in the stadium, including correspondents from The Guardian and USA Today, confirmed the reaction was clearly audible inside the venue.
Canadian broadcaster CBC aired the moment live, with a commentator noting: “Here’s Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha – oops, there’s not… uh… there’s a lot of booing for him. Whistles, some applause.”
Different broadcasts, different reality
While Canadian viewers heard the boos, American audiences watching NBC did not. On the US broadcast, Vance’s appearance was accompanied only by a brief verbal identification, without any audible crowd reaction.
According to The Guardian’s Milan correspondent Bryan Armen Graham, the boos were also noted in BBC live coverage and captured by fans on social media.
Within minutes, multiple clips circulated online showing sharply different audio versions of the same moment.
NBC has denied deliberately editing out crowd noise. However, Graham wrote that it was difficult to explain why reactions clearly heard in the stadium and on other broadcasts were absent from the US feed.
Questions of control
The incident has reignited questions about how much broadcasters can, or should, shape viewers’ perception of live events. Graham argued that controlling narratives is becoming harder in an era where global audiences share footage instantly.
The White House later posted a clip of Vance applauding during the ceremony, using NBC’s broadcast audio, which again did not include the boos.
This was not the first such case. At the US Open in September, organisers asked broadcasters to avoid showing crowd reactions to Donald Trump, according to a message that requested stations “refrain from broadcasting any disruption or reaction” related to his presence.
Friday’s ceremony unfolded amid political tension.
Hundreds of people protested in Milan against the presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Games. The US State Department said several agencies, including ICE, were present to protect American visitors and were not involved in US immigration enforcement.
Some athletes also voiced discomfort. Skier Hunter Hess said before the ceremony: “Just because I carry the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the United States.”
Sources: The Guardian, CBC, BBC, USA Today, News.ro
