This is what really happened before the President of the United States paid the little girl a compliment
On November 19th, U.S. president Joe Biden, 81, and first lady, Jill Biden, 72, visited 400 service members and their families to partake in an early Thanksgiving meal at Norfolk Station in Norfolk, Virginia.
At the event, Biden served food in a buffet line and thanked each attendee for their service. However, a video of the gathering went viral after one particular exchange between Biden and a little girl from the audience was highlighted and reposted by social media users. People appear to be confused about Biden’s words and are sharing clips on social media without the full story. Let’s take a step back to clear things up.
What Really Happened
In the original video, Jill Biden and a guest speaker had just wrapped up speeches before the president took the mic at the 7:35 mark. Shortly into the speech, he spotted a small girl sitting at a table towards the front of the crowd. She was wearing a headband with cat ears, something that caught the president’s attention.
“I love your ears. I love – they’re really cool,” Biden told the girl. He then asked her name.
After the girl responded with, “Katherine,” Biden then replied, “Beautiful name.”
He then said, “Well, nice to see you. How old are you, 17?” The president paused before looking up after another person yelled, “No, she’s six.”
“Six!” Biden exclaimed.
He then looked at a young boy close by and asked, “And how old are you? 15?”
“Four!” Biden said in a surprised tone.
Both the C-SPAN and YouTube videos captured numerous service members, their families, and other attendees smiling and laughing at Biden’s comments.
A woman on the left-hand side of the video who was seen laughing at Biden’s remarks, seemed to be one of the girl’s parents, guardians, or someone designated to supervise her during the event.
This observation is supported by a second video showing the same woman assisting children in the line where the president and others were serving meals at the event.
The Video Was Edited and Re-Posted Without Context
However, online reactions haven’t been as heartwarming. The Republican National Committee Research X account posted a 16-second video clip of a different camera angle of the same exchange but under a drastically different tone. They simply captioned the post: “BIDEN: I love your ears.”
Their clip ends just before the president asked the second child his age, leaving out important context.
Various political blogs and at least one tabloid were quick to capture the moment between Biden and the little girl in their headlines.
The Washington Times wrote, “‘Creepy Joe’ charges resurface after Biden asks 6-year-old girl if she’s 17.”
The Daily Mail published, “Creepy Joe strikes again? Biden slammed for telling girl, 6, ‘I love your EARS’ at Thanksgiving event.”
The Post Millennial also wrote the headline, “CREEPY JOE: Biden asks 6-year-old girl if she’s 17, says ‘I love your ears.'”
This wouldn’t be the first time a video taken out of context has sparked unnecessary divide amongst social media users.
The original video is more inspiring to watch anyway. We thank all service members and their families for their daily sacrifices.