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President Joe Biden's public appearances have not always been characterized by coordinated calm and reverence, with instances of envigorated crowds and onlookers interrupting speeches to heckle the United States leader.
In 2022, during Biden's primetime appearance at the Independence National Historical Park, where the president hit out at Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, a person could be heard shouting "f*** Joe Biden" from the crowd.
In a clip that was widely shared recently on social media, the president's appearance at the University of Pennsylvania to see granddaughter Maisy Biden graduate also seemed to attract this same kind of attention.
The Claim
Multiple tweets published between May 17-18, 2023, seemingly showed a crowd shouting "F*** Joe Biden" at the president as he attended Maisy Biden's graduation ceremony at the University of Pennsylvania.
One tweet, posted by user @DougIsMyGov, viewed 23,000 times stated: "FJB. F**k Joe Biden chants at University of Pennsylvania on Monday."
The Facts
The inflammatory chant in the clips on Twitter has not only been heard among crowds at other Biden appearances but morphed into the codified form "Let's Go, Brandon," arguably more infamous than its progenitor.
However, the clip shared on Twitter from his granddaughter's graduation ceremony is not the original.
In this case, the audio was added in as the original video footage, which shows the president alongside First Lady Jill Biden, and son Hunter (Maisy's father), demonstrates.
A tweet by RNC Research, a Twitter account managed by the Republican National Committee, which regularly criticizes the president, presented the unaltered footage.
Similar expletive edits have been made before. In September 2022, a video shared on Twitter of Biden being driven to Queen Elizabeth II's funeral included chants of "Let's Go Brandon." Unedited versions of the clip showed the president received no such remonstrations on his London visit.
In October 2022, another video, this time of Barack Obama making a speech at Michigan ahead of the 2022 November midterms included fake chants of "F*** Joe Biden."
The same month, a widely shared clip of Philadelphia Eagles supporters seemingly shouting the same thing at Jill Biden was also edited and did not show large sections of the crowd joining in, as the clip attempted to portray.
The Ruling
False.
The crowd at the University of Pennsylvania was not shouting "F*** Joe Biden." It was audio edited into the clip of the president attending his granddaughter's graduation ceremony.
Similar clips featuring phony expletive chants toward the president have been widely shared on Twitter before.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team
About the writer
Tom Norton is Newsweek's Fact Check reporter, based in London. His focus is reporting on misinformation and misleading information in ... Read more