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Ilhan Omar Booed by Hometown Crowd at ‘Somali Week’ Concert

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) / Getty Images
July 5, 2022

Progressive squad member Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) was nearly booed off stage Saturday by Somali-American concertgoers at a concert in Minneapolis.

As Omar was invited on stage at the Minneapolis Target Center to present an award to a Somali singer, the crowd erupted into shouting. Individuals could be heard yelling "go home," "get out," and "get the fuck out of here." Omar and the entertainers on stage spent at least two minutes trying to get the booing under control. Whenever Omar would speak, the booing would intensify, and concertgoers could be seen gesturing the thumbs-down signal. The concert coincided with "Somali Week," a Minnesota celebration commemorating Somalia's independence from colonial rule.

Though Omar holds a safe blue seat in Minneapolis, she is relatively unpopular with her constituents. The Democrat, who is Somali-American herself, underperformed President Joe Biden by 16 points in the 2020 election, the largest underperformance of any congressional Democrat that cycle. Omar is less popular nationally. A poll conducted by Rasmussen found that 61 percent of voters disagreed with the congresswoman’s "anti-American rhetoric" after she suggested the United States was comparable to Islamic terrorist organizations.

Shukri Abdirahman, another Somali-American woman who ran to unseat Omar this year before withdrawing from the Republican primary, suggested that the primarily Muslim and Somali-American crowd may have booed Omar because they disapprove of her support for gay rights and abortion. On June 1, Omar posted a tweet celebrating the beginning of pride month and was criticized by a number of Muslim Twitter users. 

Omar posted a clip of her attendance at the concert to her Twitter page, featuring her walking up to the stage to present the award. The congresswoman cut off the video moments before the booing began.

Published under: Ilhan Omar , Minnesota