peanut gallery

plural peanut galleries

1. historicalIn the nineteenth century, the cheap seats at the back of a theatre or in the upper balcony.
2. historicalThe upper balcony to which black patrons were restricted in racially segregated venues such as theatres.

   (both of which are dated and offensive)

   1 more example

   As early as the 1870s, most theaters allowed African Americans to sit in designated areas, while the dress and parquet circles were reserved for whites. A few theaters did not allow blacks at all. In the early 1920s, black leaders protested these “peanut galleries” on the grounds that African Americans paid the same ticket price. A boycott was organized that resulted not only in the closing of the peanut galleries but also closing of the theaters to blacks altogether. It was not until the public accommodations drive in the early 1960s that all theaters were opened to blacks. On May 14, 1963, the Louisville Board of Aldermen passed the public accommodations law that made discrimination in all public facilities illegal.

   2001, John E. Kleber, The Encyclopedia of Louisville, University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN, page 630

   Synonyms: nigger gallery, nigger heaven

3. idiomaticAny source of heckling, unwelcome commentary or criticism, especially from a know-it-all or of an inexpert nature. May also now refer to general audience response: "Let's hear it from the peanut gallery."

   Enough already from the peanut gallery; if you think you can do a better job, go right ahead.

   1 more example

   "No democratic government can function effectively on a stage in which every private conversation and classified document is second-guessed by a peanut gallery of unqualified loudmouths," said Danielle Pletka of the American Enterprise Institute.

   2010 July 26, “Leaked archive fuels doubts on Afghan war”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 27 May 2017