Why Do People Call Joe Biden "Brandon"? Breaking Down the Lore
You've probably heard the phrase "Let's go, Brandon" in relation to Joe Biden. Here's why.
Published June 28 2024, 11:35 a.m. ET
In the internet age, sometimes it feels impossible to keep up with all the memes and trends.
In the case of folks online who refer to President Joe Biden by the name "Brandon," it's just another case of a viral trend that caught on.
Let's break down the lore of Biden/Brandon...
Why do people call Biden "Brandon"?
Back in October 2021, an NBC reporter was interviewing NASCAR racer Brandon Brown after he'd just won the Xfinity Series. Behind him, the crowd appeared to be chanting "F--k Joe Biden."
For context, this was around the time that the phrase "F--k Joe Biden" had become a popular chant in the crowds at NFL and college football games.
A "Let's Go Brandon" sticker is seen near a polling site on Nov. 8, 2022, in New York City.
So when Brandon was being interviewed, the crowd behind him happened to be getting in on the chant-of-the-moment, it seems.
Amid the interview, the NBC reporter who was interviewing Brandon paused and remarked to the racer that "you can hear the chants from the crowd — 'Let's go, Brandon.'"
Did the reporter mishear? Was she intentionally trying to avoid what was really being said? The world may never know. But it certainly spawned a lot of memes, especially over on X (formerly Twitter), where folks had a field day with it.
In fact, some viewers who watched the debate between President Biden and former president Donald Trump on June 27, 2024, think they heard Trump calling Biden "Brandon." You can check it out in the clip embedded below — do you hear it? Either way, we're living in a weird timeline, folks.