People are reacting after Toronto Raptors fans erupted in choruses of boos in response to Trump’s tariffs during the U.S. national anthem at a Scotiabank Arena game over the weekend.
Prior to tip-off at the Sunday night matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers, 15-year-old Kyra Daniel’s rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” was met with audience-wide heckling and jeering. The overwhelmingly negative response is a reflection of the tense political climate between the U.S. and Canada amid President Donald Trump’s looming 25 per cent tariff threat, which is set to kick in on Tuesday.
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Contrarily, Raptors fans cheered loudly during the Canadian national anthem.
Booing at pro-sport events is emerging as a trend, after similar reactions broke out over the weekend at NHL games in Ottawa, Alberta, and Vancouver, just days before the president threatened to implement import tariffs on Canada a reality.
The United States national anthem is booed in Ottawa ahead of the Senators and Wild game amid tariffs from US President Donald Trump.
— Nick Murray (@NickMurray91) February 2, 2025
Caught the end of it, but it was booed for the first part of the anthem as well. pic.twitter.com/ChBU6XFxIP
The surprising reaction has sparked mixed emotions among Canadians.
“You reap what you sow America. Canadians are polite… until they aren’t,” one X user said.
“Very unclassy and shameful. My apologies as a Canadian,” another X user wrote.
“As a Canadian, I can’t express to you how far you have to push Canadians for them to do something like this. I have never seen it before in my life ever,” another user said on the platform.
