Social media users are circulating a video claiming President Joe Biden used the N-word while addressing world leaders at a virtual event to discuss international security policies.
The Munich Security Conference kicked off last Friday, Feb. 19, with world leaders attending the annual event virtually amid the pandemic. The conference was attended by the likes of Biden, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron, and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
During the summit, Biden took the virtual stage and spoke on camera for about 20 minutes, declaring that the "transatlantic alliance is back" and describing his administration's desire to be on good terms with the European Union.
Social media users are now sharing a segment of his address claiming he uttered the racial slur while referring to black people. While some posts alleged the president said the N-word accidentally, others pushed claims that he intentionally made the racist comment.
Fact-Check
Fact-checking website Snopes investigated the claims by going through the official White House transcript as well as C-SPAN video footage of Biden's address at the Munich Security Conference event. As social media users used brief video clips of his alleged racist remarks, the website focused on that particular segment and according to the evidence available, Biden says:
While saying "I'm eager to hear," the president stuttered and repeated the phrase thrice. Turns out, on his third attempt the "mmm" in the word "I'm" was combined with the subsequent word, "eager" to make it sound like he said "mmm-eager."
Biden has been vocal about his struggle with stuttering in the past. The speech disorder causes "repetitions (D-d-d-dog), prolongations (Mmmmmmilk), or blocks (an absence of sound)," according to the non-profit National Stuttering Association. Biden's use of the word "mmm-eager" appeared to be a combination of both repeating and prolonging phonetic sounds.
Social media users used the clip to falsely claim that Biden used the N-word despite the fact that the placement of the racial slur in the sentence would not make any sense, contextually.
This is not the first time Biden's words have been twisted to claim he used the N-Word. During a
During a 1985 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing — when the president was a senator representing the state of Delaware – he read out loud portions of a memo by Louisiana legislators that included the racial slur, and Trump supporters used the clip of Biden reiterating other people's words to falsely claim he was racist.
