An unidentified heckler accused President Donald Trump of being a pedophile during the live broadcast of the Presidents Cup at Medinah, Ill., on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026.
“You’re a f—ing pedophile, Donald!” the heckler was heard shouting at the 80-year-old president, as heard on the live broadcast.
The moment came as Trump stepped forward alongside PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp, the two posing beside the Presidents Cup trophy, and a voice carried over the microphones. A round of whooping went up from other spectators in response. The president, though, kept his eyes forward and showed no sign that he had noticed the commotion.
A Mixed Reception at Medinah
Trump attended as the Presidents Cup’s honorary chairman, a role the PGA Tour announced on Aug. 29 he had accepted. He also held it at Liberty National in 2017. He arrived before the 12 singles matches on Sept. 27 and greeted players and caddies from both teams near the first tee.
Until the heckle, the appearance in the Chicago suburb had looked like the friendlier of his two weekend outings. Cheers and chants of “USA” met him as he delivered his remarks, and he opened by assessing his own welcome. “You know, the fake news media will say I got a very bad reception,” the president said. He also told spectators, “These people want to see golf, they don’t want to hear speeches.”
The overall crowd response was more complicated. Quite a few loud boos were audible at the course, making the reaction to his arrival a mixed one. Patrick Fazio, a reporter with NBC Chicago, shared footage of the reception.
Gates at Medinah Country Club opened to spectators at 8 a.m. The president himself was not due until the tournament’s closing ceremony around 11 a.m., and Air Force One could be seen flying over the course beforehand. Organizers imposed additional security restrictions because of the trip, including TSA-style screening checkpoints around the first tee grandstand and surrounding areas, and urged fans to keep personal items to a minimum and to allow extra travel time.
Security on Sept. 27 included SWAT officers and trucks around the course and first-tee grandstand, and a suite with bulletproof glass reportedly built for Trump that he did not use. He remained near the first tee for much of the visit. Supporters and opponents held competing demonstrations outside the club that day, monitored by local police.
“Giving the message that Trump is not welcome here in Illinois, in Chicago, in Medinah, in Addison—all of our neighborhoods,” Allison Galvan, executive director of Grito Latino Addison Community Center Inc., told CBS Chicago. Trump supporter Terry Newsome offered a competing message to the same outlet.
Americans Rally to Win Cup
Medinah Country Club’s Course No. 3 hosted the matches. In the Presidents Cup, the United States faces the rest of the world, excluding Europe. The International team carried a lead over the Americans into Sunday’s session, and the Americans rallied in the singles matches to win the Cup 17-13, their 11th straight victory in the event.
The U.S. trailed 10.5-7.5 entering Sunday and took 9.5 of 12 singles points, with Jacob Bridgeman clinching the trophy — the largest final-day comeback in Presidents Cup history.
U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker said after the win that Trump had told him before Sunday’s singles that he planned to bring some energy because the U.S. team needed it, and that Snedeker replied Trump would get the credit if the Americans completed the comeback. Snedeker thanked Trump in his post-match comments. Tiger Woods posted “What a comeback!” congratulating Team USA on an “incredible Presidents Cup victory.”
Booed a Day Earlier
The golf appearance ended Trump’s two-day swing through the sports calendar, his second major sporting event in as many days. Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., had drawn him on Saturday, Sept. 26, for the heavily hyped meeting between the Tennessee Volunteers and the top-ranked Texas Longhorns. The Jumbotron put his image up, and the crowd loudly booed him inside one of the reddest states in the country.
Epstein Questions Trail the President
Hecklers have become a fixture of Trump’s public appearances. Many of the interruptions have centered on his past friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, along with his push to keep the full trove of Epstein files from being released. A man at a rally at a General Motors facility in Michigan repeatedly shouted in July that the president was a protector of pedophiles; Trump fired back that the heckler was a communist. In June, at a rally at a Mack Trucks factory in Pennsylvania, a protester raised his middle finger at the president and repeatedly called him a pedophile.
Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, had been a close friend of Trump’s for years. “I’m not a pedophile,” Trump told CBS News anchor Norah O’Donnell in an April interview, when pressed on the accusation.
Only 21 percent of Republicans, and just 10 percent of Americans overall, believe the Trump administration has helped efforts to hold Epstein’s alleged associates accountable, according to a Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted in June, while 47 percent said the administration has hurt those efforts. The same survey found three in four respondents saying they believe the federal government is hiding information about Epstein’s alleged clients. Public skepticism has not eased.
