Image: Getty

Like an acoustic guitarist doing shaky Jack Johnson covers at a crowded happy hour, Ted Cruz prattled on about his ideas for America or some bullshit at the back of the room, while attendees at last night’s New York City GOP gala—who can barely hear each other in here, Jesus—just tried to have a good time with their friends.

Cruz was the closing speaker at the Republican fete, following speeches from Donald Trump and John Kasich, who were received much more attentively than he was, according to reporters.

Here’s how BuzzFeed News described the scene:

Cruz then pivoted straight into his stump speech around the themes of “jobs, freedom, and security,” making few deviations from his standard remarks that he makes on the trail. Like most stump speeches, this one includes applause lines sprinkled throughout — but the audience barely applauded, and sometimes not at all.

Instead, they grew increasingly loud, with many people talking amongst themselves, milling about, and eating and drinking, their cutlery making audible sounds as Cruz soldiered on through his speech. The din grew louder and louder as the speech progressed.

And CNN:

While Cruz spoke over the chatter of an audience just wrapping up its meal, Trump — who was the first of the three contenders to speak — seemed right at home.

And NBC News:

A stunningly distracted crowd of hundreds of Republicans almost entirely ignored Ted Cruz’s speech at the New York City GOP gala on Thursday night, instead chattering at their dinner tables, standing and taking selfies. Several casually left the dinner altogether.

Attendees who spoke with NBC said the crowd was likely turned off by Cruz’s disparaging remark about Donald Trump’s “New York values” in January.

Poor Ted Cruz. The audience may not have enjoyed Cruz’s performance, if they bothered to listen at all, but I hope they were at least gracious enough to tip the entertainment on the way out.