Why Are People Calling President Biden, 'Brandon?'
Social media has been flooded with posts and memes saying “Let’s Go Brandon” referring to President Biden.
Oct. 19 2021, Published 2:03 p.m. ET
Conservatives have a new name for President Joe Biden. It’s Brandon. In the last few weeks, social media has been flooded with posts and memes saying “Let’s Go Brandon” in reference to Biden. Why are people calling Biden “Brandon?”
It all goes back to an Oct. 9 television interview with NASCAR driver Brandon Brown, who had just won his first race at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. As NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast was interviewing Brown, the crowd in the stands began chanting, “F--k Joe Biden.” The chant reportedly originally started at college football games.
When the NASCAR fans started chanting, Stavast either didn’t realize what the crowd was actually saying or tried to play it off as something less vulgar.
"Brandon, you also told me — as you can hear the chants from the crowd, 'Let's go, Brandon' — Brandon, you told me you were gonna kinda hang back those first two stages and just watch and learn," Stavast said. "What did you learn that helped you in those closing laps?"
Although the interview was initially posted to the NASCAR Twitter account, it has since been deleted.
“Let’s Go Brandon” becomes the battle cry for conservatives.
Whether Stavast’s pivot was a mistake or to adhere to FCC guidelines on the use of profanity on TV, conservatives apparently found the interpretation hilarious and made it their battle cry. “Let’s Go Brandon” started showing up in memes on t-shirts and even on billboards, and #LetsGoBrandon was a trending topic on Twitter over the weekend.
According to Fox News, the chant also made its way to other major sporting events, including a Boston Red Sox playoff game and New York Jets football game.
On a recent visit to Michigan, President Biden was met by protested chanting the now popular phrase, Fox News reported. And “Let’s Go Brandon” signs are popping up at anti-vax protests.
The right sees the chant as proof of media censorship.
Some on the right reportedly feel that the TV reporter’s rephrasing of the chant is proof of the media censoring conservative voices and playing favorites with Democrats.
"The chant is simply a hilarious recognition that a huge swath of the American people believe something the media simply are unable or unwilling to understand," conservative podcast host Ben Shapiro told Insider. "It underscores both general opposition to Biden's policies and the large-scale contempt the right has for a media infrastructure that ignores them or willfully misinterprets them. It's a fantastic in-joke."
NASCAR's Brandon Brown appears to enjoy the attention.
How does the real Brandon feel about the heckle in his name? Looking at Brown’s Twitter feed, it appears that he's taking it in stride and actually enjoying the attention.
“Look at me… I’m mr worldwide now,” Brown tweeted Oct. 11, and he shared a BBC article about the anti-Biden chant.
Another tweet shows a video of three kids giving the “drivers start your engines” call at a race, with one of the kids saying, “let’s go Brandon.” Brown’s responded, “I wasn’t racing this one buddy, but I appreciate the support.”
