Joe Biden confuses French president Emmanuel Macron with dead predecessor

Las Vegas, Nevada - President Joe Biden confused his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron with France's long-dead former leader François Mitterrand, in a speech that went viral Monday.

US President Joe Biden (r.) confused his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron with a long-dead predecessor.
US President Joe Biden (r.) confused his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron with a long-dead predecessor.  © STEFAN ROUSSEAU / POOL / AFP

Addressing a campaign event in Las Vegas on Sunday, Biden described Macron's reaction to a speech at a G7 meeting in 2020.

As well as getting Macron's name wrong, he misstated the country he leads.

"And Mitterrand – Macron, from Germany – I mean, from France looked at me and said, said 'You know, what – why – how long you back for?'" the 81-year-old said, according to a White House transcript.

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Mitterrand was French president from 1981 to 1995, and died in 1996.

Video of Biden's mix-up has been viewed thousands and shared thousands of times on X.

Biden and Trump make high-profile gaffes

Biden has made similar public mistakes in the past, notably in September 2022 when he called on a deceased congresswoman at a conference she helped organize.

"Jackie, are you here? Where's Jackie? I think she was going to be here," he said, referring to Indiana representative Jackie Walorski, who had died a month earlier.

And in April last year, a White House transcript corrected Biden when he confused New Zealand's All Blacks rugby team with the Black and Tans, a British paramilitary force notorious for its crimes in the Irish War of Independence.

Biden's predecessor and probable opponent in the November presidential election, Donald Trump, made a similar gaffe last month, confusing his party rival Nikki Haley with former House speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Cover photo: STEFAN ROUSSEAU / POOL / AFP

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