Getty President Joe Biden addresses a joint session of Congress in 2021.
Did President Joe Biden accidentally say “Iranian people” instead of “Ukrainian people” during the State of the Union on March 1, 2022? While his mispronunciation trended on Twitter during the SOTU, some tweeted that people should focus on the content of his speech and not a misstatement.
Some Say Biden Accidentally Said ‘Iranian’ People
In the clip below, Biden appears to say “Iranian” people or otherwise mispronounce Ukrainian people during his speech. Here’s the clip as it was shared on Twitter below.
President Biden: “Putin may surround Kyiv with tanks, but he will never win the hearts and mind of the Iranian people.”
He appeared to say, “Putin may surround Kyiv with tanks, but he will never win the hearts and minds of the Iranian people.”
Biden obviously meant to say “Ukrainian people,” but now the mispronunciation is going viral on Twitter and during the State of Union was one of the top trends.
Yes, Biden said Iranian when he met Ukrainian. Let’s not make a thing of it.
Josh Rogin, a Washington Post columnist, tweeted, “Yes, Biden said Iranian when he met Ukrainian. Let’s not make a thing of it.”
While the “Iranian” part trended, others tweeted that they thought Biden’s speech was inspirational.
“We can’t change how divided we’ve been. But we can change how we move forward—on COVID-19 and other issues we must face together.”
— Pres. Biden
Biden’s speech about the United States’ response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was overall well-received, dotted with applause by people in Congress and not interrupted by any protests.
He made a couple of other mispronunciations during his speech, including saying “inspect” rather than “expect” during the domestic portion of his speech.
Biden Occasionally Makes Gaffes When He Speaks
Biden has been known for making gaffes from time to time, in part due to his lifelong stutter. In 2019, when Sarah Huckabee Sanders made fun of his stutter, Biden tweeted about his struggle.
I’ve worked my whole life to overcome a stutter. And it’s my great honor to mentor kids who have experienced the same. It’s called empathy. Look it up.
He tweeted at the time, “I’ve worked my whole life to overcome a stutter. And it’s my great honor to mentor kids who have experienced the same. It’s called empathy. Look it up.”
Biden sometimes misspeaks from time to time. During a September 2019 Democratic debate, Biden made the now-infamous “record player” statement. During his allotted time to conclude his remarks at the end of the debate, he talked about people “playing a record player at night.” The statement quickly became a meme.
Did just #Biden says to make sure to have the record player on ? 😂 #DemocraticDebate
In March 2021, he accidentally said that he came to the Senate “120 years ago” while he was talking about filibusters.
He said:
Filibuster. Filibuster. With regard to the filibuster, I believe we should go back to a position of the filibuster that existed just when I came to the United States Senate 120 years ago. And that is that it used to be required for the filibuster… And I had a card on this. I was going to give you the statistics, but you probably know them. That it used to be that from between 1917 and 1971, the filibuster existed, there were a total of 58 motions to break the filibuster, that whole time. Last year alone, there were five times that many. So it’s being abused in a gigantic way. And for example, it used to be, you had to stand there and talk and talk and talk and talk until you collapsed. And guess what? People got tired of talking and tired of collapsing. Filibusters broke down and were able to break the filibuster, get a [inaudible] vote.
In August 2020, at the end of the Democratic National Convention, viewers debated about whether or not Biden referred to himself as “Joe Biden’s husband.”
In tender moment, Joe Biden embraces Jill Biden following her keynote #DemConvention remarks.
“I’m Jill Biden’s husband…You can see why she’s the love of my life and the rock of our family.” t.co/g2aifw44ZR
Some people said he clearly referred to himself as “Jill Biden’s husband,” a term he often used to describe his and his wife’s relationship. In April 2019, The Hill reported that he introduced himself as “Jill Biden’s husband” when he first kicked off his campaign.
Then in November 2020, he seemed to confuse the Eagles logo for a Blue Hens emblem. He pointed to his parka as proof of his loyalty to the Eagles, but his jacket instead had the mascot from the University of Delaware.
On February 28, First Lady Jill Biden made a mistake when introducing Vice President Kamala Harris, accidentally referring to her as the “President” of the United States before quickly correcting herself. Biden took the mistake in stride.