Chicago mayor 'booed off stage' at local union fundraiser: Reports

Lightfoot was booed while speaking at the Local Plumbers Union 130 annual fundraiser.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
By Colton Salaz

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was booed over the weekend when delivering a speech at a local union fundraiser, according to reports. 

According to Fox News, Lightfoot was scheduled to speak at an annual fundraiser for the Plumbers Union Local 130 on Sunday, but her speech abruptly ended due to a chorus of boos coming from the audience.

The Plumbers Union was the first organization to endorse Lightfoot when she ran for office back in 2019.

One attendee told the Chicago Sun-Times that Lightfoot only spoke for about a minute before she was "booed off the stage."

 

One attendee reportedly claimed that the jeering was "almost deafening," and said: "They were calling her names. It was bad."

Union officials confirmed that Lightfoot was booed, but insisted that she was "able to finish her remarks," and received a loud cheer at the end of them.

Despite videos showing Lightfoot being booed, the union's business manager Jim Coyne says they are exaggerated. 

"I did not hear any booing,” he said. “That’s kind of impossible at Plumbers Hall. She’s loved by the plumbers. People wanted to get in line and take pictures with her."

In recent weeks Lightfoot has been at the center of a heated standoff with Chicago's police union over the city's vaccine mandate. 

The president of the Fraternal Order of Police John Catanzara has been urging his members as well as other union officials to disobey Lightfoot's mandate. In response to his comments, a  Cook County Judge issued a temporary restraining order barring Catanzara from speaking publicly about the issue.