Former President Joe Biden is getting raked over the coals on social media after a video clip captured during the unveiling of a portrait at Syracuse University on April 14, 2026, led to an uncomfortable, awkward moment when he wisecracked that Jeffrey Scruggs, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees, as “Barack,” a reference to former President Barack Obama.
Biden, a former student of the university, was attending an event designed to celebrate the permanent installation of his official portrait at the school. While delivering a talk, Biden, 83, spotted Scruggs and said, in typical Joe Biden fashion, “I always want to turn around to one guy and say…’Barack, what are you doing?” Many folks believe the joke is essentially suggesting that all black men look the same.
After the cringe-worthy statement, Biden repeatedly motioned for Scruggs to join him on stage, making the whole scene even more awkward by asking the audience, “Doesn’t he look like Barack? I feel like he should be standing on the right and I should be standing on the left,” Biden joked after inviting the chairman to join him at the podium.
According to a report from AOL, Scruggs told Biden backstage that his daughter had asked him on numerous occasions if he looks like the former president. Biden, who suffers from Stage IV prostate cancer, went on to explain that the onstage moment with Scruggs was meant to confirm to his daughter that her father does indeed resemble the former president.
The audience at the event burst into laughter during the moment. However, once the clip started circulating online, conservative critics referred to it as an “awkward gaffe,” while those who lean left defended the incident as nothing more than an inside joke. MAGA influencer Linke Lauren took to social media and responded to the video.
“His filter just keeps disappearing, and it’s glorious. If anyone else had said they look alike, there would be cries of racism from the media,” he wrote. Rita Panahi of Sky News Australia took an opportunity to mock the former president for “assuming” the trustee was actually Obama. Unsurprisingly, leftists viewed the reaction from Biden’s critics as overblown. Some claimed that conservatives were trying to create a gaffe moment to deflect from an alleged growing concern over Trump’s cognitive decline.
Users on Facebook had a field day ripping into Biden over the incident, with one individual commenting, “Imagine if Trump said that!” Another poked fun of the former president’s age with a subtle dig at his deteriorating mental acuity, saying, “Great joke, Grandpa! Now ice cream and go to bed.” Another zinged, “When you let autopen out of the basement, high comedy always follows.”
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An individual also admitted that Scruggs does indeed bear a resemblance to Obama, saying, “They do resemble if you look fast.” One commenter wrote, “What a masterclass in improv comedy, not sure who would have been funnier in office now.” Another took a slightly veiled jab at Biden being racist, saying, “They all look alike, don’t they Joe?”
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video