*Wanda Sykes was booed by a charity crowd in Boston after her standup act turned toward the election of Donald Trump.
Sykes was the fifth of eight comics to perform at the event at Saturday’s Comics Come Home benefit show at the TD Garden, which served as the 22nd annual fund-raiser for the Cam Neely Foundation for Cancer Care. In a statement, host Denis Leary told The Boston Globe that the comedians who take part in the benefit are “free to speak their mind.”
Onstage, Sykes said, “After the election, I was going around consoling people. I said, ‘Guys, look on the bright side … I was telling everybody, ‘It’s OK. It’s gonna be OK.’ I am certain this is not the first time we’ve elected a racist, sexist, homophobic president. He ain’t the first one, he’s just the first confirmed one.”
That’s when the booing started.
Via the Boston Herald:
“(Expletive) you, (expletive) you, (expletive) you,” Sykes said to the audience members who were booing her set at the country’s longest-running comedy fundraiser.
The booing began about five minutes into Sykes’ performance and she stayed on stage to finish her set, also delivering jokes on topics outside of the political realm.
But before she left the stage, Sykes flipped the three-quarters capacity crowd the finger when the boo-birds came back out to send her off the stage.
Before she exited stage left, a woman came out and gave Sykes a hug and a big kiss while throwing up a peace sign, prompting wild cheers from the audience.
As he came out to introduce the next comic in the lineup, Leary defended Sykes, telling the crowd she came all the way from L.A. for the benefit and deserved their respect.
Watch below:
Wanda Sykes booed in Boston. goes on anti trump rant. Insults Trump and his supporters. No jokes just a rant. pic.twitter.com/U69Jzljcgo
— Sam DeGreen (@samdegreen) November 13, 2016
.@iamwandasykes trashes Trump and whites. gets booed. More hate from the left. Almost ruined charity event. pic.twitter.com/uzcGMRnVIS
— Sam DeGreen (@samdegreen) November 13, 2016
Boston boo-birds flip on Wanda Sykes after anti-Trump rant https://t.co/bcdCdHLUdk pic.twitter.com/4871wV0vzE
— Boston Herald (@bostonherald) November 13, 2016
Sykes’ attorney told The Boston Herald that she plans to issue a statement about the incident via social media.
Fellow comedian Nick DiPaolo — who says he voted for Trump — also performed during the event. Of Sykes, he told The Herald: “She just kept digging a deeper hole for herself. It was making my blood boil. There’s a segment — and they were there last night — who don’t agree with what she was saying. It was a little too soon to take such a stance. You have to be funny first. Otherwise, it’s just preaching. Last night, she just took the wrong angle.”
DiPaolo also reportedly earned boos for his jokes about liberals, Boston women and Jews and admitted to The Herald that he used an ethnic slur when a female audience member tried to get his attention onstage, calling her a “Peabody Jew.”