More than a dozen fans walked out of Wanda Sykes' show at Count Basie Center for the Arts Thursday, after the comedian opened with a series of jokes about President Donald Trump.
Sykes began her set poking fun at Trump's assertion that world leaders at his recent United Nations address were laughing with him, not at him. (If that was the case, "What was the joke he told?" Sykes quipped).
She also joked that, while other presidents seemed to have aged at a faster-than-typical rate while in office, the general public seemed to be aging more quickly during Trump's administration. Trump hadn't aged a bit, Sykes deadpanned.
Bunch of people heckled @iamwandasykes at her Count Basie Theatre for doing a significant amount of material about our...current political climate.
— Courtney Marabella (@CourtMarabella) September 28, 2018
Her response: βWhat do you expect? Iβm a black lesbian.β
ππππππππ pic.twitter.com/6wQMr5QnKL
A few minutes after the show began, some attendees began heckling the comedian.
"Do some comedy!" one attendee shouted.
"Too political!" another yelled from the crowd.
Sykes, a frequent Trump critic, paused briefly to ask what displeased attendees had expected to see at her show, and continued with her set.
Attendees said they believed one of the hecklers and his party were removed from the theater by staff. A few said they walked out because they thought it was unfair the heckler had been asked to leave.
The walkout erupted in the theater lobby with yelling and heated arguments as attendees turned against staff and against each other.