NOTE: The following article is satire, not a statement of fact. Treat it as such.
President Joe Biden recently gave a speech with the Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Leo Varadkar, of Ireland and, during the speech, infuriated him by making an “insensitive” joke about the Irish. Things began okay with Biden saying:
Thank you, thank you, thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you, thank you, thank you.
You have all heard the expression — and this is attributed to a guy named Shane Leslie, who once wrote, “Every St. Patrick’s Day, every Irishman goes out to find another Irishman to make a speech to.” (Laughter.) Well, that’s why I’m here. (Laughter.)
I’m glad to be with all of you. And most importantly, I’m glad that we’re surrounded by so many friends of Ireland.
Here in Washington, we’ve always been able to work across the aisle on Irish issues no matter what our politics have been, no matter what else we agree or disagree on.
So, Mr. Speaker, thank you for bringing us together again. I was trying to think — I think I’ve made almost every one of —
Then a stool fell in the room and that snapped Biden out of his unusually sentient speech making and back into normal mode, so he started making jokes about the Irish. “What do you call a bottle of liquor next to an Irishman,” Biden asked the crowd to a roar of booing, “an empty bottle!” he said.
Continuing, he went on to say that the Irish had “basically allied” with the Nazis during World War II by remaining neutral. “How could you remain neutral around Hitler?” he asked. That stumped the crowd because they didn’t know about Ireland’s wartime history, but then Biden brought back the booing by saying “Musta been too drunk to fight!”
President Biden then went on to go to yet another meeting and say that his jokes about the Irish are okay because of his Irish ancestry, so he can tell whatever jokes he wants to mark St. Patrick’s Day. The New York Post noted that he was “cracking that he’s surprised his distant Irish relatives aren’t “in jail” and that he’s “really not Irish” because he doesn’t drink alcohol.” Continuing, that report went on to say:
The 80-year-old president, who is roughly five-eighths Irish, made the seemingly stereotype-laden attempts at humor as House Republicans investigate his family’s international business deals amid a federal criminal investigation of first son Hunter Biden.
“I’ve been to Ireland many times, but not to actually look up, to find my actual family members. And there are so many — and they actually weren’t in jail,” Biden said to scattered laughs as he recalled a six-day visit in which he met his relatives.
“There’s still a place called Finnegan’s pub … that’s related to my family,” the president went on.
“I’m the only Irishman you ever met, though, that’s never had a drink, so I’m OK. I’m really not Irish.”