From trying to shake the hand of an invisible man to calling Kamala Harris the ‘First Lady’, US president Joe Biden has been a gaffe machine
Joe Biden was delivering a speech at a former coal mine plant in Somerset, Massachusetts. During the visit he was discussing about new executive orders to fight climate change. AP
US president Joe Biden caused a furore on Wednesday when he during a speech mistakenly stated that he has cancer. The remark set off much speculation over his health and medical status. However, the White House quickly clarified that Biden was referring to his history of “non-melanoma” skin cancer removed before he assumed power last year.
Biden was delivering a speech at a former coal mine plant in Somerset, Massachusetts. During the visit he was discussing about new executive orders to fight climate change.
It is during this discussion that he recounted a childhood anecdote to stress on the harms caused by emissions from oil refineries. Referring to his childhood home in Delaware he said, “My mother drove us rather than us being able to walk and guess what? The first frost, you know what was happening? You had to put on your windshield wipers to get literally the oil slick off the window. That’s why I – and so damn many other people I grew up with – have cancer and why for the longest time, Delaware had the highest cancer rate in the nation.”
Biden has been known for being a veritable gaffe machine throughout his political career. Let’s take a look at some of his most memorable mistakes:
A single word description for America: ‘Asufutimaehaehfutbw’
Last month, a video of Joe Biden and US vice president Kamala Harris went viral on social media. In the video, he can be heard saying, “America is a nation that can be defined in a single word.” The single word sounded something like “Asufutimaehaehfutbw”.
According to a News18 report, the video left netizens in splits and was shared multiple times.
The video gathered over 2.6 million views and 119.3k likes on Twitter.
Calling Kamala Harris the ‘First Lady’ In an ‘Equal Pay Day’ event conducted by the White House in March to celebrate Women’s History Month, Joe Biden accidentally called US vice president Kamala Harris as the “First Lady”. He said, “There’s been a little change in arrangement of who is on the stage because of the First Lady’s husband contracting COVID,” pointing out to the fact that Harris was not present with him at the event, according to a Times Now report. In a video that went viral, it can be seen that someone next to him tried to correct his mix-up which had elicited laughter from the audience.
Shaking hands with the invisible man one
Soon after ending a speech at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, Joe Biden attempted to shake hands with someone that wasn’t there.
The viral video had left netizens split.
Forgetting Australian president’s name At a virtual press conference that unveiled the ‘AUKUS’ alliance between Australia, UK and US last year in September, US president Joe Biden struggled to recall Australian prime minister Scott Morrison’s name. According to a report by NDTV, Morrison was the first one to speak at the conference followed by the then UK prime minister Boris Johnson. When Biden took the stage to make his speech, he first thanked Boris Johnson. But when the time came to express his gratitude towards the Australian prime minister, Biden forgot his name. He said, “I what to thank…uh…that fella down under.”
To this Morrison replied, “Thank you very much pal. Appreciate it Mr Prime Minister.”
Dozing off at COP26 summit
Last year at the COP26 summit, the US president was caught on camera with his eyes closed for a few seconds. However, it was not fully established whether he really dozed off or took a brief moment to rest his eyes.
According to an Indian Express report, the video that was shared by The Washington Post journalist Zach Purser Brown, made several rounds on the internet. The video showed Biden applauding the speaker before wiping his eyes and shutting them for some time.
Biden’s remark on Barack Obama
Back in 2007, when both Joe Biden and Barack Obama were senators, Biden made some insensitive remarks about the then White House hopeful.
Biden said, “I mean, you’ve got the first sort of mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a story-book, man.”
Biden later apologised.
With inputs from agencies
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