Donald Trump's 'Les Miserables' Appearance Sparks Avalanche of Jokes, Memes
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
President Donald Trump's attendance at a performance of Les Miserables at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, during which he received cheers and boos from sections of the crowd, triggered a wave of jokes and memes on social media.
Newsweek contacted the White House and the Kennedy Center for comment on Thursday via email and online inquiry form, respectively, outside regular office hours.
Why It Matters
Following his second presidential inauguration in January, Trump fired most of the Kennedy Center's board of trustees, replacing them with allies and appointing himself as chairman.
The president attended the show in Washington, D.C., against a backdrop of days of anti-immigration enforcement protests in Los Angeles, some of which have turned violent. In response, his administration ordered 4,000 California National Guard troops and 700 Marines against the wishes of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.
What To Know
On Wednesday, the president and first lady Melania Trump attended the opening night of Les Miserables at the Kennedy Center. Other prominent figures in attendance included Vice President JD Vance, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Footage of the event shows Trump receiving cheers and boos from the audience. According to CNN, one woman appeared to be escorted out after shouting, "Convicted felon, rapist!"
Les Miserables is a musical adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel of the same name. It is set against the backdrop of the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris, a failed insurrection against French King Louis Philippe that was suppressed by government troops.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arriving to attend the opening night of "Les Miserables" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on June 11.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arriving to attend the opening night of "Les Miserables" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on June 11.
ALEX WROBLEWSKI/AFP/GETTY
On X, Newsom shared a screenshot of an NBC News headline about the president's attendance, writing, "Someone explain the plot to him." The post has received more than 60,000 likes and 1.9 million views.
User @BlueATLGeorgia, a pro-Democrat account with 39,000 followers, wrote: "Les Misérables is a story of social unrest, especially the June Rebellion, where young idealists rise up against inequality and government oppression.
"Young people fight for justice, calling for reforms and dignity for the poor. The government responds to the rebellion with heavy force, resulting in bloodshed. Sound familiar?"
A Michigan business called That Gay Guy Candle Co. wrote: "Trump's going to see Les Mis tonight? That's ironic."
User @Betches_News told its 25,000 followers, "Trump and Melania watching Les Mis at the Kennedy Center tonight like." Below the caption, it shared a photo of a shocked woman asking: "Wait. Is this f*****g play about us?"
User @toyjawn1 wrote, "Trump ... watching Les Mis ... with tickets upwards of the amount of an ordinary person's whole life wages," above a GIF of a man rubbing his face with an iron.
During Thursday's performance, a number of drag performers sat below the presidential box in what one described as a "message of inclusivity."
Before the performance, Trump attended a VIP reception with paid attendees. He told reporters that $10 million was raised for the Kennedy Center.
What People Are Saying
Kennedy Center Interim Director Richard Grenell, commenting on reports that some actors did not want to perform in front of President Donald Trump, said: "Any performer who isn't professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliation, won't be welcomed. In fact, we think it would be important to out those vapid and intolerant artists to ensure producers know who they shouldn't hire—and that the public knows which shows have political litmus tests to sit in the audience."
Darlene Webb, a Trump supporter who was at the performance, told CNN about the jeers: "I just wanted to clap and yell over it, because at this type of performance I don't think it was good for them to do that, professionally."
Cara Segur, Webb's friend, told the outlet: "Seeing some of the actors and actresses, it looked like they were singing at him, instead of just singing to the crowd. And it felt really powerful and I liked it."
What Happens Next
On Saturday, a military parade is due to take place in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. The day also marks Trump's 79th birthday.
The "No Kings" movement has organized demonstrations against Trump across the U.S., with 1,800 events planned for Saturday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Well-mannered White House welcome for Ukraine leaves many questions
By Trevor Hunnicutt and Gram Slattery WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump gathered European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a hastily arranged White House meeting on Monday to discuss a path to ending Russia's war in Ukraine. Here are takeaways from the talks: WARM TONE, LITTLE SUBSTANCE Seven European leaders, the Ukrainian president, their motorcades, dozens of Trump administration staff and more than 100 journalists swarmed the White House campus on Monday in anticipation of the unusual meeting. Would Trump and Zelenskiy agree on a path to peace? Or would their latest Oval Office session devolve into a bitter squabble as in February? Neither scenario occurred. Zelenskiy, chided for his appearance and manner in February, adjusted both. Wearing more formal clothing and repeatedly expressing his gratitude to Trump, he was greeted by a far more complimentary U.S. president than in the past. But, despite Trump's vow to assist in Ukraine's security after a hypothetical peace deal, there was no immediate sign that any party had substantially changed position on land swaps, security guarantees or sanctions. Instead, Trump ended with promises to host a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to address the many remaining issues. HEAPING PRAISE "Have you said 'thank you' once?" U.S. Vice President JD Vance asked Zelenskiy in February, accusing him of failing to show sufficient gratitude for U.S. support. On Monday, Zelenskiy made sure that was not an issue. His opening remarks in the Oval Office included eight thank-yous, mostly for Trump. "Thank you so much, Mr. President ... thank you for your attention. Thank you very much for your efforts, personal efforts to stop killings and stop this war. Thank you," Zelenskiy said. He included the U.S. first lady, who sent a letter to Putin about abducted children in Ukraine. "Using this opportunity, my thanks to your wife," the Ukrainian president said. "And thanks to all our partners and that you supported this format. And after our meeting, we're going to have leaders who are around us, the UK and France, Germany... all partners around Ukraine supporting us. Thanks (to) them. Thank you very much for your invitation." Unlike in February, Vance this time sat largely silent. COMBAT FORMAL The stakes of the meeting could not have been higher. But one of the most-asked questions among diplomats in D.C. could not have been more frivolous: Would the Ukrainian president wear a suit? The answer: kind of. Zelenskiy showed up to the White House in what one European diplomat described as "almost a suit." His black jacket had tiny lapels and jetted chest pockets. He did not wear a tie. His attire, which split the difference between the battlefield and the boardroom, could be described as combat formal. Those sartorial details matter when it comes to dealing with the U.S. president, who was upset that Zelenskiy did not wear a suit for their February meeting. Zelenskiy passed the fashion test this time, however. When one journalist in the Oval Office said Zelenskiy looked "fabulous," Trump chimed in to agree. "I said the same thing," Trump told reporters. DIVIDE OVER CEASEFIRE The assembled European leaders, Zelenskiy included, were careful to paper over policy disagreements with Trump, keeping their comments vague and showering the U.S. president with compliments. But one point of disagreement did bubble to the surface. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the assembled leaders and media that he wanted to see Putin agree to a ceasefire. Trump had long pushed for a ceasefire in Ukraine. But he largely jettisoned that goal after meeting with Putin last week in Alaska, a shift that was widely seen as a diplomatic defeat for Ukraine. The U.S. president now says he is fine trying to move directly to a peace deal. "To be honest, we all would like to see a ceasefire," Merz said. "I can't imagine that the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire, so let's work on that." Trump pushed back, arguing he has solved many conflicts without first reaching a ceasefire. WHOSE BOOTS ON THE GROUND? One of the great mysteries that hung over the summit was what support the U.S. would give to secure any Russia-Ukraine deal long term. Trump hasn't offered U.S. troops' "boots on the ground" to guarantee Ukraine's security from Russia, reflecting American reticence to commit to military entanglements or a head-to-head confrontation with a nuclear power. Instead, he has offered weapons sales and promised that Americans will do business in Ukraine, assurances that Ukrainians see as far less than a security guarantee. Europeans are preparing for a peacekeeping mission backed by their forces. Yet, asked explicitly whether U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine could include U.S. troops in the country, Trump did not rule it out. Instead, he teased an announcement as soon as Monday on the topic. "We'll let you know that, maybe, later today," Trump said. He said Europe was the "first line of defense" but that "we'll be involved." WHAT'S NEXT Trump said he would call Putin and set up a trilateral meeting with Ukraine at a time and place to be determined. Despite some private misgivings, the assembled leaders agreed that such a meeting was a logical next step. Still, the path forward is more complex than Trump and his allies are letting on. For one, Russia has delayed and obstructed high-level meetings with Ukraine in the past, and it was not immediately clear that Putin would actually sit down with Zelenskiy, who he frequently describes as an illegitimate leader. Additionally, it is unclear how much a principal-level meeting would actually advance the cause of peace. The gulf between the Russian and Ukrainian positions is vast. The Kremlin said on Monday the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine is a non-starter, a stance that would be hard for Ukraine to swallow. Russia is also calling for Ukraine to fork over significant chunks of territory that Kyiv controls, another proposal that Ukraine's leaders are not entertaining.
USA Today
8 minutes ago
- USA Today
Chris Pratt talks hanging out with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: 'I love him'
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a fan in Chris Pratt. The "Guardians of the Galaxy" star, 46, spoke with Bill Maher on the "Club Random" podcast about his relationship with the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. "I've spent a number of occasions hanging with him, just in a strictly family dinner kind of vibe, and I really got along with him well," Pratt said during the episode released on Aug. 18. "I think he's great. I think he's funny. I like him. I love him." Pratt's wife, Katherine Schwarzenegger, is a member of the Kennedy family. She is the granddaughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a philanthropist and sibling of Robert F. Kennedy. Pratt also told Maher that politics is a "nasty business," and he has seen "how the person you are can be such a contrast to the person that people are being told that you are." Chris Pratt and Katherine Schwarzenegger welcome their first son together Kennedy, who endorsed Trump's 2024 election bid after dropping his own campaign for president as an independent, has been criticized for his history of promoting false or misleading claims about vaccines. "When you jump on the bandwagon with the most divisive president ever, it makes sense that you're going to be made to look terrible," Pratt said. "So I don't know what to believe. It's not like I sit with Bobby and go, 'So hey, let's talk about this.' We're just playing cards or playing Mafia or having fun or having dinner. I'm not going to pick his brain to find out exactly which of those things are true. I just kind of assume that none of them are, and for the most part, I wish him well." Pratt argued that even critics of the Trump administration should be able to root for its success in some instances. "I'd hate to be so mired in hatred for the president that any success from his administration is something I'd have an allergic reaction to," he said. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declares 'loyalty' to Trump, rules out a 2028 presidential bid The "Terminal List" actor did not endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential election, even as several of his Marvel costars rallied around former Vice President Kamala Harris. In an essay for his mother-in-law Maria Shriver's Sunday Paper before the election, Pratt wrote that he was "trying to make sense of the election through the eyes of Americans on both sides." "I've been thinking a lot about where we'll be as a nation on November 6th, how we can attempt to move forward after so much division, and how some of the lessons that sports teach us may be just what all of us need as we chart a course forward," he wrote. Pratt went on to add that after the election, Americans should exercise their "civic duty" to "accept the results and focus instead on showing up for each other." Contributing: Hannah Hudnall and Erin Jensen, USA TODAY
Los Angeles Times
8 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Europeans demand a ceasefire before Trump summits with Putin and Zelensky
Russia must agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine before negotiations can advance toward a formal peace agreement, top European leaders told Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, urging the U.S. president to 'put pressure on Russia' in his push to end the war. The meeting had an historic flair with six European heads of government, the NATO secretary general, and the president of the European Commission all converging on Washington for discussions with the president — a flurry of diplomatic activity after Trump's summit last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska sparked widespread fears over the fate of U.S. support for security on the continent. Trump first met with Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, in the Oval Office, striking an affable tone following their last, disastrous meeting in the room back in February. This time, Trump emphasized his 'love' for the Ukrainian people and his commitment to provide security guarantees for Kyiv in an ultimate peace settlement with Russia. Zelensky offered only praise and gratitude to Trump, telling reporters that they had their 'best' meeting yet. But an expanded meeting with Zelensky and the chancellor of Germany, the presidents of France and Finland, the prime ministers of the United Kingdom and Italy, and the heads of NATO and the European Commission hinted at a more challenging road ahead for the burgeoning peace effort. 'The next steps ahead are the more complicated ones now,' said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said. 'The path is open — you opened it. but now the way is open for complicated negotiations, and to be honest, we would all like to see a ceasefire, at the latest, from the next meeting on.' 'I can't imagine the next meeting would take place without a ceasefire,' Merz added. 'So let's work on that. And let's put pressure on Russia.' Emmanuel Macron, the French president, sat sternly throughout the start of the meeting before echoing Merz's call. 'Your idea to ask for a truce, a ceasefire, or at least to stop the killings,' Macron said, 'is a necessity, and we all support this idea.' Trump had been in agreement with his European counterparts on the necessity of a ceasefire for months. Zelensky first agreed to one in March. But Putin has refused, pressing Russian advantages on the battlefield, and in Anchorage on Friday convinced Trump to drop his calls for an immediate halt to the fighting. 'All of us would obviously prefer an immediate ceasefire while we work on a lasting peace. Maybe something like that could happen — as of this moment, it's not happening,' Trump said at the meeting. 'But President Zelensky and President Putin can talk a little bit more about that.' 'I don't know that it's necessary,' Trump added. 'You can do it through the war. But I like the ceasefire from another standpoint — you immediately stop the killing.' The European leaders all emphasized to Trump that they share his desire for peace. But the president of the commission, Ursula Van der Leyen, called for a 'just' peace, and Zelensky would not engage publicly with reporters on Putin's central demand: a surrender of vast swaths of Ukrainian territory to Russian control. Putin first invaded Ukraine in 2014, occupying the Crimean peninsula in a stealth operation and funding an attack on the eastern Donbas region using proxy forces. But he launched a full-scale invasion of the entire country in 2022, leading to the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War Two. In a hot mic moment, before press were ushered out of the expanded meeting with European leaders, Trump told Macron that he believes the Russian president and former KGB officer would agree to a peace deal because of their personal relationship. He 'wants to make a deal for me,' he said, 'as crazy as it sounds.' European leaders said that detailed U.S. security guarantees — for Ukraine specifically, and more broadly for Europe — were at the top of the agenda for Monday's meetings, including the prospect of U.S. troops on the ground in Ukraine to enforce any future peace settlement. Asked whether U.S. forces would be involved, Trump did not rule it out, stating, 'we'll be talking about that.' 'When it comes to security, there's going to be a lot of help,' he said in the Oval Office. 'It's going to be good. They are first line of defense, because they're there — they are Europe. But we're going to help them out, also. We'll be involved.' Van der Leyen, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer praised the Trump administration for discussing what it called 'Article 5-like' security guarantees for Ukraine, referencing a provision of the NATO charter that states that an attack on one member is an attack on all. But the provision also provides countries in the NATO alliance with broad discretion whether to participate in a military response to an attack on a fellow member. Starmer and Macron have expressed a willingness for months to send British and French troops to Ukraine. But the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that Moscow would oppose the deployment of NATO troops to the country as 'provocative' and 'reckless,' creating a potential rift in the negotiations. Despite the gulf between Europe and Russia, Trump expressed hope throughout the day that he could schedule a trilateral meeting amongst himself, Putin and Zelensky, possibly within a matter of days. He planned on calling Putin shortly after European leaders left the White House, he told reporters. Trump's team floated inviting Zelensky to attend the negotiations in Alaska last Friday, and Zelensky has said he is willing to participate in a trilateral meeting. He repeated his interest to Trump on Monday and asked him to attend. But Moscow has yet to commit to a trilateral summit. Ahead of Friday's meeting, Russian officials said that conditions weren't right for a direct talks between Putin and the Ukrainian president. The Russian leader has repeatedly questioned Zelensky's legitimacy, and has tried to assassinate him on numerous occasions. In the Oval Office, a Fox News reporter asked Zelensky if he was 'prepared to keep sending Ukrainian troops to their deaths,' or whether he would 'agree to redraw the maps' instead. The Ukrainian president demurred. 'We live under each day attacks,' Zelensky responded. 'We need to stop this war, to stop Russia. And we need the support — American and European partners.' Trump and his team largely adopted Putin's position on Friday that Russia should be able to keep the Ukrainian territory it has occupied by force — and possibly even more of the Donbas region of Donetsk that remains in Ukrainian control — in exchange for an end to the fighting. But European officials were silent on the idea on Monday. The Ukrainian Constitution prohibits the concession of territory without the support of a public referendum, and polls indicate that three out of four Ukrainians oppose giving up land in an attempt to end the war. Steve Witkoff, the president's envoy for special missions, said Sunday that Putin agreed to pass legislation through the Kremlin that would guarantee an end to wars of conquest in Ukraine, or elsewhere in Europe. But Russia has made similar commitments before. In 1994, the United States and Britain signed on to a agreement in Budapest with Ukraine and Russia that ostensibly guaranteed security for Kyiv and vowed to honor Ukraine's territorial integrity. In exchange, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons.
