President Biden butchered LL Cool J’s name and then referred to the rapper as “boy,” before quickly correcting himself, while delivering a speech to the Congressional Black Caucus on Saturday night.
LL Cool J, whose birth name is James Todd Smith, and MC Lyte received Phoenix Award for their musical contributions at the annual awards dinner in Washington D.C. during the CBC’s 52nd Annual Legislative Conference.
“Two of the great artists of our time representing the groundbreaking legacy of hip hop in America , LL Jay Cool J, uhhh…” he said as the crowd laughed at the gaffe.
“By the way that boy — that man’s got biceps bigger than my thighs,” Biden added.
He blew past the blunder and acknowledged MC Lyte immediately after as the audience applauded.
RNC Research quickly jumped on the gaffe, retweeting a clip of it with Biden’s quote on X, former known as Twitter.
“Ohhh god make it stop PLLLEASE . he’s making a total mockery of this country,” X user @Johnnypatriot64 replied to the post with the video.
The president has a history of referring to African Americans as “boy” — a term considered a racial epithet when used to describe black men.
Earlier this year, Biden used the word while referring to Maryland’s first black governor, Wes Moore.
The president has frequently used “boy” to refer to younger politicians, though he took flak while on the campaign trail for using the term to describe his ability to work with segregationist senators.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), then competing with Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination, rebuked him in a statement, saying: “You don’t joke about calling black men ‘boys.’”