Not again, Joe! Biden butchers LL Cool J’s name before referring to rapper as ‘boy’ in train-wreck speech to Congressional Black Caucus in DC – raising further questions about the 80-year-old president’s age and health
- Biden, 80, referred to rapper LL Cool J as a ‘boy’ after mispronouncing his name at the Congressional Black Caucus on Saturday night
- Referring to African Americans as ‘boy’ is widely considered as a derogative term for black men
- Biden has previously found himself in hot water for using the term and this incident comes hot on the heels of a long line of recent speech slip-ups
President Joe Biden referred to legendary rapper LL Cool J as a ‘boy’ after mispronouncing his name at the Congressional Black Caucus on Saturday night in yet another butchered speech.
LL Cool J and MC Lyte received Phoenix Awards for their musical contributions at the annual ceremony in Washington DC.
While on stage, Biden, 80, said: ‘Two of the great artists of our time representing ground-breaking legacy of hip hop in America, LL Jay Cool J, uhhh…’ – as the audience laughed at his latest gaffe over the rapper’s name.
Biden then added: ‘By the way that boy – that man’s got biceps bigger than my thighs.’
The footage of his speech was quickly re-posted by right-wing RNC Research on social media where commentators swiftly pointed out that referring to African Americans as ‘boy’ is widely considered a derogative term.
Joe Biden butchered his speech at the Congressional Black Caucus on Saturday night
The 80-year-old president referred to legendary rapper LL Cool J (pictured) as a ‘boy’ after mispronouncing his name
On X, formerly Twitter, one user said: ‘Ohhh god make it stop PLLEASE. He’s making a total mockery of this country’.
Another accused him of being an ‘ignorant racist Democrat’.
This is not the first time the president has found himself in hot water for using the term.
Biden was heavily criticized earlier this year when referring to Maryland’s first black governor Wes Moore as a ‘boy’.
‘You got a hell of a new governor in Wes Moore, I tell ya,’ Biden told members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in February.
‘He’s the real deal, and the boy looked like he could still play. He’s got some guns on him,’ he added.
In May he also raised eyebrows after telling a White House attendee to ‘hush up, boy’ during an event celebrating Islamic holiday Eid-al-Fitr.
The awkward exchange came as the audience member, who is believed to be a Muslim man, interrupted the president as he marked the occasion before a packed crowd.
Biden said: ‘Two of the great artists of our time representing ground-breaking legacy of hip hop in America, LL Jay Cool J, uhhh…’
LL Cool J and MC Lyte received Phoenix Awards for their musical contributions at the annual ceremony in Washington DC
‘You want to come and make a speech?’ Biden responded after he was heckled.
‘Hush up, boy, as my mother would say’ he continued in a mimicked Southern drawl.
In 2019, Biden made a similar slip-up when he told a crowd on the campaign trail that he could work with all people – even those who he did not agree with.
He told how he worked with James Eastland, a Mississippi senator and plantation owner, who was an open white supremacist. Eastland resigned as a senator in 1978 and died in 1986, aged 81.
Biden said that Eastland respected him, declaring: ‘He never called me ‘boy,’ he always called me ‘son.”
Senator Cory Booker, who is black, rebuked Biden for downplaying the use of the word ‘boy’ to diminish black men.
Booker, on CNN, said it was inappropriate. ‘You don’t joke about calling black men “boys”,’ he said.
He later added that he’d had a constructive conversation with Biden about his use of the term, adding: ‘This is about him invoking a terrible power dynamic that he showed a lack of understanding or insensitivity to by invoking this idea that he was called ‘son’ by white segregationists who, yeah, they see in him their son.’
Footage of his speech was quickly re-posted by right-wing RNC Research on social media where commentators swiftly pointed out that referring to African Americans as ‘boy’ is widely considered a derogative term.
In 2021, the president also clumsily referred to Japanese golfer Hideki Matsuyama, who was 29 at the time, as a ‘boy’.
He told the Japanese prime minister during a press conference: ‘You’ve got a Japanese boy coming over here and guess what? He won the Masters. He won the Masters. He won the green jacket.’
Biden’s Saturday night blunder is just the latest in a long line of recent speech disasters as critics increasingly raise concerns about the president’s age and health.
During a speech in Washington on Thursday at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s 46th Annual Gala, Biden had celebrated Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, for her gala award.
Biden praised her for living the lessons based on the Gospel of Matthew before mistakenly adding: ‘The Congressional Black Caucus embodies all those values.’
Just days ago Biden repeated the same story twice within minutes at a private fundraising event in New York, sparking further concerns about his age.
The story was one the president tells often about how events in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, and the reaction of Donald Trump, inspired him to run for the White House.
Biden on Thursday mistakenly praised the ‘ Congressional Black Caucus’ during a speech to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus
On Aug 11, 2017 white supremacists and neo-Nazis descended on the city and clashes continued into the following day.
Biden, who was in New York for the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, attended a fundraising gathering hosted by food security expert Amy Goldman Fowler at her home.
According to a White House pool report of the private event he began speaking just after 4pm in a living room in front of about two dozen people.
Biden discussed his economic record and reflected on his decision to seek the presidency and ‘talked about the events of Charlottesville’ as the reason for his campaign, the report said.
‘A few minutes later, he told the story again, nearly word for word,’ the report went on.
The incident came after he seemingly wandered off a stage without shaking hands with Brazil’s president at the end of a joint speech.
Biden on Wednesday bumped into the Brazilian flag, marking his first gaffe within seconds of appearing on stage
The president appeared to leave Lula hanging at the end of the diplomatic presentation, awkwardly saluting the audience before shuffling off stage
And when in Vietnam earlier this month, his rambling press conference was brought to a sudden end with his mic cut and jazz music playing him off the stage, as though he went too long at an awards speech.
Biden was mid-flow and answering questions from journalists when he was interrupted and forced to shuffle away and head backstage.
‘We talked about stability, we talked about the Third World, excuse me, the Southern Hemisphere has access to change. It wasn’t confrontational at all….’ Biden said as he rambled on.
Suddenly, the booming voice of his press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, could be heard butting in.
‘Thank you everybody. This ends the press conference. Thanks everyone,’ she said as she brought the presser to a close.
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