Biden sparks backlash after telling audience member at White House event for Eid-al-Fitr to ‘hush up, boy’ after he was interrupted during speech’
- Joe Biden sparked backlash after telling an interrupting White House attendee to ‘Hush up, boy’
- The awkward interaction came during an event marking the Islamic holiday Eid-al-Fitr
- The event previously came under fire after New Jersey’s Muslim mayor was blocked from the celebration after being denied entrance by the Secret Service
Joe Biden sparked backlash after telling a White House attendee to ‘hush up, boy’, during a White House 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.
‘You want to come and make a speech,’ Biden shouted after he began being berated him from the audience.
‘Hush up, boy,’ he continued in a mimicked Southern drawl, a remark which was met with laughter from the other attendees.
Joe Biden hosted a reception celebrating Eid-al-Fitr at the White House in Washington, D.C.
The gaffe quickly sparked backlash due to the historic connotations behind the word ‘boy’, which has been used as a racist slur against black people.
Biden’s response was shared by Texas state delegate Sarah Fields, who slammed the president following the remarks and claimed the individual was a servicemember.
‘Imagine if another president referred to someone as “boy”‘, she said. ‘Especially someone in our armed forces’.
Controversy at the event comes after New Jersey’s Muslim mayor Mohamed Khairullah said he was ‘baffled’ after being blocked entrance to the celebration by the White House Secret Service.
Shortly before he was set to arrive at the White House for the Eid-al-Fitr event, Mayor Mohamed Khairullah said he received a call from the White House stating that he had not been cleared for entry by the Secret Service and could not attend.
He said the White House official did not explain why the Secret Service had blocked his entry.
The Secret Service denied Mohamed Khairullah, entry to the White House’s Eid-al-Fitr celebration with President Joe Biden despite having been sent an invite
