Biden Calls Buttigieg ‘Secretary Booty Juice’ in Public Speech?

Since at least June 2023, claims have spread on social media platforms that U.S. President Joe Biden called Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who was the first openly gay Cabinet member confirmed by the U.S. Senate, “Secretary Booty Juice.”

On Aug. 24, for example, a TikTok post claimed that Biden had walked to a podium after shaking Buttigieg’s hand and said, “Thank you, Secretary Booty Juice.” The video had 5.5 million views on the platform at the time of this writing.

@flamingojacksoncomedy #stitch with @MrPoliticalClips ♬ original sound – Terrell Wright

But Biden did not, in fact, mispronounce Buttigieg’s name — which is properly pronounced BOO-tuh-jej — “Booty Juice.” Video clips asserting that he did took advantage of the fact that Biden spoke quietly and mumbled slightly as he said the name.

We found the video posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), Instagram and Facebook. We also found posts promoting the claim on other social media platforms dating from before that specific video was posted, like a TikTok post in July 2023 and a YouTube video in June 2023. We also received reader mail inquiring about the truth of the claim. 

The clip of Biden saying thank you to Buttigieg came from an event held on May 8, 2023, at the White House. We found high-quality video of the event on C-SPAN and YouTube, including the White House’s YouTube account, as well as the YouTube accounts for reputable news organizations like The Washington Post and CBS News. 

The event was focused on a proposed federal rule that would require airlines to compensate passengers for “controllable” flight cancellations and delays. According to the official White House transcript, Biden opened his remarks by saying, “Thank you, Secretary Buttigieg. Thank you all for being here. Please, sit down.”

As is evident when one listens carefully to the raw video, Biden did not pronounce the name as “Booty Juice.” On the contrary, his pronunciation, though not perfectly clear, was relatively close to Buttigieg’s own. We rate video clips claiming that he did as Miscaptioned.

We have previously fact-checked other claims regarding Biden’s self-acknowledged tendency to commit verbal gaffes, including whether he had said he had cured cancer and whether he in fact said the N-word in a recorded speech.

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