President Donald Trump loves to be the center of attention, and he often has delusional fantasies about being well-liked.
However, he had a rude awakening when he attended the NBA Finals between the Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs.
Trump came with granddaughter, Kai Trump, and his reception from the crowd is the talk of the Big Apple.
Trump’s face on the Jumbotron during the game as he saluted the flag, the crowd booed loudly. A video captured the moment, as well as Kai’s reaction as she tried to ignore the booing.
Kai nodded before slightly grinning while the boos almost drowned out Avery Wilson’s the national anthem.
Watch Kai’s face as Trump defiantly holds salute in face of boos at Knicks game pic.twitter.com/tAalBrteLc
— New York Post (@nypost) June 9, 2026
Kai later shared footage of the moment on Instagram with the sound replaced. The post was captioned, “Thank you to 15SOF for capturing this special moment with my Grandpa.”
After Kai posted a version of the moment with the boos noticeably absent, fans quickly raised questions online.
It’s unclear whether Kai edited the video herself or whether someone else removed the crowd noise before she shared it.
Either way, she was sitting in the arena when it happened and would have known the crowd reaction in the video didn’t match what was actually heard inside the building.
“Not the change of sound,” joked one fan.
“Girl, your face says it all lmao!! Grandpa & u were BOOED,” replied one fan. “Changing the audio is wild though,” another wrote.
“LMFAOOOO the swapped audio,” noted another.
When asked about the reception he got at the game, Trump did what comes naturally to him — he lied.
“I thought great,” he claimed. “I thought it was amazing, actually. It was very good, yeah. Was certainly amazing. It was, I think, mostly cheers, loud and it was very enthusiastic.”
The boos weren’t the only awkward moment Trump faced during the NBA Finals.
Throughout the night, cameras also caught the 79-year-old appearing to doze off in his seat, reviving a long-running criticism that has followed him throughout his presidency and campaign appearances.
DONALD TRUMP HAS FALLEN ASLEEP AT THE NBA FINALS IN MADISON SQUARE GARDEN. pic.twitter.com/rFrW6c4cME
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) June 9, 2026
In another viral clip, Trump was seen enthusiastically snacking on junk food despite recent medical advice encouraging him to lose weight and adopt healthier habits.
Taken together, the moments created a rough night of optics for the president.
