Joe Biden's Super Bowl Reaction Leaves People Stunned

Joe Biden posted a "Dark Brandon" meme after the Super Bowl, leaving commentators with mixed reactions.

On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs secured a 25-22 victory in overtime over the San Francisco 49ers at Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium.

When the result came in, the Democratic president posted a "Dark Brandon" meme of himself with devil eyes and commented: "Just like we drew it up," referencing an online conspiracy that he controlled the result of the game so that the Kansas City Chiefs would win and then musician Taylor Swift, who is dating the team's tight end, Travis Kelce, would use a victory to endorse Biden.

Biden was alluding to a meme that started in October 2021, when Brandon Brown won the Sparks 300 race at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

While being interviewed by NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast after his win, Stavast commented on chants from the crowd behind who were saying "f*** Joe Biden." Stavast appeared to mishear these and said: "You can hear the chants from the crowd—Let's go Brandon." Since then, conservatives have used the chant as way to allude to the original ruder version and have used a photo of Biden with photoshopped devil eyes which they have dubbed "Dark Brandon" as another way to criticize the president.

But Biden has, at times, also used the meme himself.

Biden's tweet garnered a mixed response. Some people praised him.

Victor Shi, a Democratic writer and podcast host, said: "This is so amazing."

Political strategist Adam Parkhomenko wrote: "10/10 no notes."

"You're making me very happy with this tweet," said Rachel Bitecofer, a political scientist.

Others, however, were surprised by it. News publication Raws Alerts wrote: "At first I thought this was a parody account but what the hell is this."

Another social media user said: "Thought this was Joe Biden (Parody) at first."

"Which intern tweeted this?" asked EsfandTV, a streamer account.

Meanwhile, before the game started, Biden posted a TikTok video in which he jokingly referenced the conspiracy theory while answering a series of questions about the Super Bowl. In response to the question: "Deviously plotting to rig the season so the Chiefs would make the Super Bowl or the Chiefs being just a good football team?", he said: "I'd get in trouble if I told you," before the camera cut to the "Dark Brandon" meme.

In the past, he has also appeared to embrace the meme. In September 2023, he shared a video on Instagram of him filling up a mug with his own face on it, the eyes on which turned red after contact with boiling water.

In the video, Biden says "I think you should buy this mug, I'll ask you nicely but he won't," at which point the camera zooms in on the mug as the eyes turn red. The mug was also made available on the Biden campaign website for $22.

Despite the speculation, Swift has not, so far, endorsed Biden.

Newsweek contacted a Biden representative by email to comment on this story.