A viral video from the Fourth of July weekend shows a crowd at a Somali cultural music festival booing and jeering at Somali-American Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) after she stepped onstage in Minneapolis.
On July 2, Rep. Omar attended the event to see Somali singer Soldaan Seraar perform at the Target Center in her home district. She was on stage to present an award to the singer, who was performing for the first time in the U.S.
However, not everyone was happy to see her. The videos of people chanting “get out!” and “get the f–k out of here” soon began circulating online.
The videos do not show what sparked such a strong reaction, but according to The Epoch Times, some have blamed the backlash on Omar’s pro-abortion stance and what some perceive as excessive promotion of gay pride month.
Omar was one of the representatives who spoke at pro-abortion rallies in Washington, D.C., after the Supreme Court decided to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24.
Omar has also remained a vocal supporter of more aggressive legislative measures to promote abortion, such as ending the filibuster for Congress to attempt to codify pro-abortion legislation into federal law or expanding the Supreme Court to include more judges.
The Daily Mail suggested that the crowd’s unwelcoming response may have been in response to her comments two days earlier when she appeared to imply that conditions in Minnesota were worse than those in a Somali refugee camp.
Speaking at the Gun Violence Community Conversation at North High in Minneapolis the previous Thursday, Omar said that she saw more violence in her first year in Minnesota than during the six years she spent in a Somali refugee camp during her childhood.
Omar made no mention of the crowd’s reaction when posting on her social media after the event.
“It was an honor to welcome you to our incredible city,” she wrote on Twitter, addressing Seraar. The accompanying 14-second video footage showed her walking onstage towards the singer and ended just as the audience began to boo.
Longer videos showed the audience booing at Omar and her husband, Tim Mynett, for about a minute after they took the stage. Omar attempted to calm the crowd, saying, “OK, OK, OK, OK, OK, we don’t have all night,” the New York Post reported.
Neither Omar nor her office has publicly commented on the incident.