Joe Biden "Where's Jackie?"

About

Joe Biden "Where's Jackie?" refers to a viral moment and gaffe within a September 2022 speech given during a White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health in which U.S. President Joe Biden asked out loud where Republican Representative Jackie Walorski is, despite her dying in August a month prior. The catchphrase and viral video of the incident rapidly spread online shortly after as people made memes and mocked the President's mistake.

Origin

On September 28th, 2022, the White House held a conference on hunger, nutrition and health where President Biden gave a speech. During the speech, the President can be seen thanking several members who are in attendance, before calling out Jackie Walorski and asking if she was there. However, on August 3rd, 2022, Walorski and three other people were killed in a head-on collision near Nappanee, Indiana. Since Walorski (the co-chair of the House Hunger Committee) would've been instrumental in the planning of this event, it's purported that this is where the mistake stemmed from. The official ABC News YouTube Channel^[1] uploaded footage from the event in which Biden was looking around confused and asking for Jackie, which quickly gained over 103,000 views in less than 24 hours (shown below).

Immediately upon clips of the gaffe hitting social media, memes and videos pointing out this error quickly made their way online as well. On September 28th, Twitter user @KateTalksTruth^[2] uploaded a video of Biden's speech in which he's asking where Jackie is, with the date shown up top just before it cuts to a Fox News report on August 3rd where they are reporting on her death, gaining over 500 likes in one day (shown below).

“Jackie, where’s Jackie?” --Biden
Jackie passed away last month in a car crash. pic.twitter.com/ZzEH8CzdcJ

— Kate (@KateTalksTruth) September 28, 2022

Spread

More memes continued to be posted throughout the evening of September 28th, 2022, following the speech. For example, that same day, Twitter^[4] user DwightPowerFJB posted a meme referencing Impractical Jokers that received over 220 likes in 14 hours (seen below, left). Also that night, Twitter^[5] user MostlyPeacefull posted a Meme Heaven format with Jackie Walorski, receiving over 570 likes in a similar timeframe (seen below, right).

Going off the theme of Biden talking out to Jackie, who is recently dead, some memes began to get made about Biden being a spirit medium. This can be best seen in the meme uploaded to Twitter by the account @Doc_Chimpanzee^[3] on September 28th in which the image shows Biden holding a Ouija Board and asking if Jackie is in the room with them (shown below).

Biden's August 2022 Call and Statement to Jackie Walorski's Family

As Biden's gaffe continued to spread, many began noting that following Jackie Walorski's death on August 3rd, 2022, the President notably called her family to offer his condolences at the time. On September 28th, the NY Post^[7] then published an article titled "Late GOP Rep. Jackie Walorski’s bro: Biden ‘doing best he can’ despite forgetting sister’s death" in which it interviewed Keith Walorski about Biden's speech. When asked for comment, Keith told the publication:

"All I’m saying right now about the president is bless his heart for trying. Yeah, it was a big mess-up today. Inexcusable? No. Unforgivable? No. I’m not gonna hold it against him. I just feel sorry for him."

Others online also pointed out the statement released by Biden following her death in August. For example, Twitter^[6] user charliespiering tweeted the statement on September 28th under a clip of the speech where the error occurred, garnering over 5,600 likes in 15 hours.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References