There are Hare Krishnas who dance and play music every weekend in a busy downtown area a few miles away from me. I've never seen anyone openly ridicule them for their music, their dancing, their clothes, etc.
Just because you would behave the same way as those kids doesn't make it universal.
It depends on the setting. If they're always there, standing in one spot doing their music thing it is pretty clear it is an act. We used to have the Peruvian Flute bands and of course the Jesus choirs.
We also have plenty of other street musicians in cities. However, send the more excentric types alone to a group of bored college kids and they'd probably be mocked.
The kid simply froze and did his default smug look because that's probably what he always does when he doesn't know what else to do and someone walks into his face with a drum.
The other kids jumped around, laughed and had no clue what was going on. JFK Jr. could've also easily turned around and was in no way attacked or surrounded.
Well maybe, by people trying to film these dramatic scenes.
