Angry Italians boo American athletes and JD Vance at Winter Olympics opening ceremony amid ICE fury

Team USA and J.D. Vance were greeted with a chorus of boos when they arrived at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony Friday night.

Ahead of the Games starting this weekendAthletes from around the world took center stage as they paraded through the San Siro to greet eager spectators.

While morale was high throughout the event, when Team USA marched into the stadium they were greeted with boos from the angry Italian fans inside.

To make matters worse, the jeers grew louder when United States Vice President J.D. Vance was featured on screen following recent protests against the deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to the Olympics.

Entering the stadium, the U.S. team was led by flag bearers, speed skater Erin Jackson and Frankie del Luca, who is part of the nation’s bobsled team.

Despite the booing, both Team USA athletes and JD Vance appeared to be in good spirits as they greeted the assembled fans.

US Vice President J.D. Vance was also booed when shown on screen at the inauguration ceremony

Shortly after the opening ceremony ended, it didn’t take long for fans watching at home to notice the boos and take to social media to speak out.

‘Wowowowow Team USA gets booed during the opening ceremony parade. It’s just a shame. #Olympics2026,’ one fan wrote to X.

“This is not the reaction I expected for team USA,” another user said.

USA team gets booed [crying emojis]’ another fan wrote on the platform.

One noted: ‘There were a lot of boos when JD Vance was shown on the big screen when Team USA entered the stadium at @milanocortina26’s opening ceremony.’

This took place during an opening ceremony where Mariah Carey came under fire after she lip-synced to a performance of the classic Italian song ‘Volare’.

Taylor Swift also sent an unexpected good luck message to the athletes as the ceremony began.

Ahead of the Games, Winter Olympic chiefs had to make an urgent appeal to fans in the presence of United States Vice President J.D. Vance.

Just days before the curtains rose, protesters roamed the streets of Milan demonstrating that US ICE agents had been deployed at the Olympics.

The demonstrations occurred just days before Vance was due to arrive in Italy to lead a high-level delegation from Donald Trump’s administration at the games.

Speed ​​skater Erin Jackson led the U.S. team as flag bearer at the opening ceremony.

In response, Chairperson Kirsty Coventry said: ‘I hope the opening ceremony is seen by everyone as an opportunity to be respectful of each other.

‘Nobody asks what country they come from or what religion they follow. “They’re all just hanging out,” he added. Daily Monster.

‘It was a real opportunity to put into perspective what we could all be like. And for me, I hope the opening ceremony will do that and remind everyone of what we can be like.’

The protest in Piazza XXV Aprile square, named after 1945 when Italy was liberated from Nazi fascism, was attended by the left-leaning Democratic Party, the CGIL trade union confederation and Italy’s World War II. Many people from ANPI organizations that preserve the memory of partisan resistance during World War II attended.

Organizers handed out plastic whistles, which participants played as music blared from a van.

The protest was against the news that agents from a division of ICE would join the security of the U.S. delegation, as well as against what many of those present said they saw as insidious fascism in the United States.

“No, thank you, from Minnesota to the world, alongside all those who fight for human rights,” one banner read.

Earlier in the week, angry Italians protested ICE’s presence at the Winter Olympics

Organizers handed out plastic whistles, which participants played as music blared from a van

IOC President Kirsty Coventry implored fans not to boo the US delegation at Friday’s ceremony

Another read ‘Never again means never again for anyone’ and another read ‘Just ice in a Spritz’, a reference to a popular snack.

One of the protesters, Silvana Grassi, carried a banner reading ‘Ice = Gestapo’. He said the scenes of ICE agents in Minneapolis shooting and killing protesters and detaining children were deeply distressing.

“I want to cry just thinking about it,” Grassi said. ‘It’s so scary. ‘How did they choose such a terrible, evil man?’

Homeland Security Investigations, an ICE unit that focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events such as the Olympics to assist with security.

The ICE arm at the forefront of fighting immigration in the United States is known as Enforcement and Deportation Operations, and there is no indication that officers in that arm have been sent to Italy.

“Even if they’re not the same ones, we don’t want them here,” Grassi said.

Paolo Bortoletto, holding a banner in his hand, was also aware that the officers would be working in the investigation, not on the streets.

Still, he said, ‘We don’t want them in our country.’ We are a peaceful country. We don’t want fascists. ‘It is their opinions that disturb us.’

American singer Mariah Carey has been criticized for lip-syncing at the 2026 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony at the San Siro in Milan, Italy

Carey arrived for the first part of the event to perform a ‘performance’ of the classic ‘Volare’

Meanwhile, elsewhere at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, American singer Mariah Carey is receiving backlash for lip-syncing.

Carey wore a flowing white dress for the first part of the event to celebrate the start of the 25th Winter Olympic Games.

However, his performance of the classic song ‘Volare’ was lampooned on social media for what appeared to be a failed attempt by the 55-year-old artist to fake his singing of the song.

Carey appeared to make little effort to reach the top end of her vocal range, and at times appeared to move her lips more slowly than heard at the San Siro.

Almost immediately, social media began chastising the New York native for his lack of effort.

“Haven’t seen a worse lip sync performance in years,” one upset user on X tweeted while Carey was still on stage.

Meanwhile, before the opening ceremony began, Taylor Swift stunned viewers when she appeared on NBC to send a good luck message to competing athletes.

Taylor Swift wowed viewers at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony Friday on NBC

The Games officially kicked off with a grand opening ceremony in Milan on Friday.

Wearing Team USA’s long-sleeved Ralph Lauren T-shirt, the music star said: ‘I wanted to send a message to all the athletes competing in the Olympics.

‘I just wanted to say thank you. Learning new stories and seeing everything you sacrificed, all your determination, hard work and passion. Everything that has brought you to this point where you are so great at something is truly inspiring.

‘I’m so grateful for everything you’ve done to get to this point in your life, and I’m grateful that you’ve brought us all along on this journey so we can watch you do it.

‘I hope you have a great Olympic games, I wish you all good luck and a safe journey, and I hope this is an experience you will love for the rest of your life.’