A heckler shouted an obscene accusation calling President Donald Trump, 80, a pedophile during the live broadcast of the Presidents Cup in Medinah, Ill., on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2026. The man, who has not been identified, was heard shouting, “You’re a ****ing pedophile, Donald!”
The moment came as Trump stepped forward alongside PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp. The two posed beside the Presidents Cup trophy, and a voice carried over the microphones. A round of whooping went up from other spectators in response. Trump, staring ahead, gave no sign that he acknowledged the commotion.
Trump attended as the Presidents Cup’s honorary chairman. The PGA Tour announced on Aug. 29 that he had accepted the role, which he previously held at Liberty National in 2017.
A Mixed Reception at Medinah
Until the heckle, the appearance in the Chicago suburb looked like the friendlier of his two weekend outings. He was met with cheers and chants of “USA” as he delivered remarks. 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.
“You know, the fake news media will say I got a very bad reception,” Trump said in his remarks at Medinah.
Trump arrived at Medinah on Sept. 27 before the 12 singles matches and greeted players and caddies from both teams near the first tee. Gates at Medinah Country Club opened to spectators at 8 a.m., and the president was expected to stay about two hours, the Associated Press reported. Spectators could see Air Force One flying over the course beforehand.
“These people want to see golf. They don’t want to hear a speech,” Trump told spectators at the first tee. He also said, “I will only say this: Our country is doing great, better than ever before.”
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 allow extra travel time. Security on Sept. 27 included SWAT officers and trucks positioned around the course and first-tee grandstand. Trump arrived after a flyover and remained near the first tee box for much of the visit.
Bloomingdale’s director of public safety told the Daily Herald that at least five people were arrested on misdemeanor charges, with several protests taking place around the visit. Supporters and opponents held competing demonstrations outside the club before Trump arrived, monitored by local police, with tension when participants crossed the street toward the opposing group. A Trump supporter offered a competing message to CBS Chicago.
Allison Galvan, executive director of Grito Latino Addison Community Center Inc., told CBS Chicago the aim was “Giving the message that Trump is not welcome here in Illinois, in Chicago, in Medinah, in Addison — all of our neighborhoods.”
Booed at Neyland Stadium
The event capped Trump’s two-day swing through the sports calendar: golf on Sunday, Sept. 27, and college football on Saturday, Sept. 26. That Saturday, the Tennessee Volunteers hosted the top-ranked Texas Longhorns at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn., a heavily hyped meeting he attended. The Jumbotron put up his image, and inside one of the reddest states in the country he was loudly booed, the Daily Beast reported, though Knoxville station WVLT described his reception as largely positive.
Americans Rally to Take the 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 led 10.5-7.5 going into the final day, Sept. 27, and the U.S. needed eight of 12 singles points to reach the 15.5 required.
Rookie Jacob Bridgeman clinched an 11th straight victory for the Americans, who won 9.5 of the 12 singles points and took the Cup 17-13. The 17-13 win was the largest final-day comeback in Presidents Cup history. Among the singles results, golfer Cameron Young beat Ryo Hisatsune 3 and 2, and golfer Justin Thomas beat Corey Conners 5 and 3.
U.S. captain Brandt Snedeker said after the win that before the singles session Trump told him 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 victory. In his post-match comments, Snedeker thanked Trump and referred back to that exchange.
Hecklers and Epstein Questions
Hecklers have become a fixture of Trump’s public appearances, and his past friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, along with his push to keep the full trove of Epstein files from being released, has been at the center of many interruptions. 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. A protester at a Mack Trucks factory rally in Pennsylvania in June raised both middle fingers 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. Pressed on the accusation in an April interview, Trump told CBS News anchor Norah O’Donnell, “I’m not a pedophile.”
Public skepticism has not eased. In a Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted in June, just 10 percent of Americans — and only 21 percent of Republicans — said efforts to hold Epstein’s alleged associates accountable have been helped by the Trump administration, while 47 percent said the administration has hurt those efforts. In the same survey, respondents said by three in four that the federal government is hiding information about Epstein’s alleged clients.
