A gay journalist has spoken out after alleging he was briefly detained by security staff for booing President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump during the opening night of Chicago at the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, 31 March.
Eugene Ramirez was attending the performance with a group of friends when he booed the president and gave a thumbs-down gesture as the first couple appeared in the balcony box shortly before the show began. The paper reported that the pair were met with a mixture of applause, cheers and audible boos.
“I accompanied five friends to opening night of ‘Chicago’, as a way to enjoy a final performance in the Kennedy Center as we know it,” Ramirez told the Washington Blade.
Ramirez said security staff moved in almost immediately after his protest.
“Within moments, the director [of security] and another guard approached and escorted me to a side area where several other security guards were waiting,” he explained. “I was detained until everyone was seated and the lights dimmed.”
He said the experience felt bigger than a difficult encounter at the theatre, particularly because of the venue’s public role and federal ties.
“Journalism is a vocation, not just a job,” he added. “I immediately knew there wasn’t just an uncomfortable interaction with security. The Kennedy Center is a federally funded cultural institution, and being questioned about speech related to the president in that setting felt like something the public should know about.”
Ramirez also claimed the incident reflected an attempt to control dissenting optics around the president and argued that it infringed on his freedom of expression.
“Being singled out by security at a federally funded institution for expressing dissent shouldn’t be brushed off; it undermines the First Amendment.”
“Being of Cuban heritage, and a journalist, it’s a right I’m not willing to give up readily.”
