Last week, after accidentally calling the Congressional Hispanic Caucus the Congressional Black Caucus, Biden finally did address the Congressional Black Caucus Saturday night at its 52nd Annual Legislative Conference—and it did not go well.
Rappers LL Cool J and MC Lyte were being honored with Phoenix Awards that night to recognize their contributions to music. Biden not only botched LL Cool J’s name at the event but made what some would call a racist remark.
“Two of the great artists of our time representing the groundbreaking legacy of hip hop in America , LL Jay Cool J, uhhh…” he said. It was incredibly awkward watching him attempt to speak about something he obviously knew nothing about, and the audience naturally laughed watching the white octogenarian pretend to be hip.
And it went downhill from there.
“By the way, that boy — that man’s got biceps bigger than my thighs,” Biden bizarrely added.
BIDEN: "LL J Cool J, uhh, by the way, that boy's got— that man's got biceps bigger than my thighs" pic.twitter.com/ulCQRkEp0l
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) September 24, 2023
Referring to African American men as “boy” is considered a racial epithet. According to Merriam-Webster, the word “boy” was often used to refer to enslaved men and is considered offensive when used in reference to an adult black man.
Biden has a history of referring to African Americans as “boy.” During the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, Sen. Cory Booker called Biden out for his use of the word “boy” while discussing his past work with segregationist Democrats.
“I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,” Biden said about the Mississippi Democrat. “He never called me ‘boy,’ he always called me ‘son.’”
“You don’t joke about calling black men ‘boys,’” Booker said, and claimed he’d “heard from many, many African Americans who found the comments hurtful.”
Related: Black Poverty Skyrockets Under Joe Biden
Biden also used the word earlier this year in reference to Gov. Wes Moore, Maryland’s first black governor, back in February.
“You got a hell of a new governor in Wes Moore, I tell ya,” Biden said. “He’s the real deal, and the boy looked like he could still play. He got some guns on him.”
Biden did it again in May, telling a White House guest to “host up, boy.”
Joe Biden has made his fair share of racist comments over the years. One of his more notable examples from the 2020 campaign was when he told Charlamagne tha God on his radio show “The Breakfast Club” that “if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
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