Kamala Harris Gets Hostile Reception from March Madness Crowd as Her Alma Mater Gets Blown Out by 28 Points
Vice President Kamala Harris wasn’t warmly received when she appeared at a first-round game of the annual NCAA men’s basketball tournament on Thursday.
Harris was booed by fans in a game in which her alma mater — Howard University — was eliminated in a March Madness blowout.
A display of the vice president and her husband, Doug Emhoff, on an arena screen was met with audible boos from the crowd at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, according to The Associated Press.
Vice President and Howard alumna Kamala Harris is here today pic.twitter.com/SSQux5lgAc
— Sully Engels (@sullyengels) March 16, 2023
The unfriendly response was also noted on social media by many who were watching.
Apparently, Vice President Kamala Harris is here in Wells Fargo Arena to support her alma mater, Howard.
They just put her up on the big screen and the a good portion of the arena started to boo lmao Iowa at its finest
— Eliot Clough (@EliotClough) March 16, 2023
Watching Howard vs Kansas. During time out they showed kamala Harris on the big screen and the crowd booed! 🤣🤣
— Travis Fetters (@tfetters21) March 16, 2023
Kamala Harris just got booed! 😂😂
— Paul Hardin 🐗🐗🐗 (@PDHardin05) March 16, 2023
The booing is difficult to hear in a video clip shared on social media.
@VP at the Howard game. #NCAATournament pic.twitter.com/CClpgrdpnZ
— Crystal4Kamala – Proud Democrat (@crystal4obama) March 16, 2023
Harris’ Bison lost the game 96-68 to the Kansas Jayhawks — a college basketball powerhouse seeded first in the tournament’s West Region.
Howard, a historically black university in Washington, D.C., was the No. 16 seed.
The vice president delivered a motivational speech to her alma mater’s players — after they lost, according to the AP.
“You played hard. You played to the very last second. You made all us Bisons proud,” Harris said of the team.
“You are smart. You are disciplined. You put everything you had into the game,” she said. “You guys did not stop, and that is so inspiring. So you keep playing with chin up and shoulders back because you showed the world who Bison are.”
“You made all us Bison so proud.” ❤️@VP Kamala Harris delivered a postgame message to @HUMensBB 👏 #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/zwQFcwlWYX
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 16, 2023
Harris’ presence was noticed when her convoy of Secret Service agents and personnel arrived at Wells Fargo Arena.
This is how theVP slips into the NCAA Tourney. pic.twitter.com/jCjhyhKbZV
— Marcus McIntosh KCCI (@MarcusKCCI) March 16, 2023
Howard’s first-round loss came in its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 1992.
Harris graduated from the university in 1986.
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