On Wednesday, a video of US Vice President Joe Biden appears to say that he has cancer during a speech that alarmed users on social media. Speaking about new executive actions to combat climate change, Mr. Biden was in Somerset, Massachusetts, at a former coal mining complex. Despite the casual comment, the White House swiftly clarified that the President referred to skin cancer treatment he had received before taking office in January of last year.
About his childhood home in Delaware and the harm that oil refinery pollution inflicts, Mr. Biden said, “My mother drove us rather than us being able to walk and guess what?
Do you recall what was occurring during the first frost? The oil slick had to be wiped off the window. Thus you had to turn on your windshield wipers. That is why I have cancer, along with so many other damn people I grew up with, and why Delaware used to have the highest cancer incidence in the country.
Many users immediately inquired whether the phrase was an admission or another mistake after the video went viral on Twitter.
Things are going pretty good today because Joe Biden just revealed that he has cancer and referred to a male House member as “her,” a user wrote. Another user wrote, “Does Joe Biden have Cancer or Dementia?”
Another person tweeted, “I hope your cancer gets healed.”
The White House made it clear that the President was referring to his earlier diagnosis as his comments generated a stir. The White House’s Andrew Bates responded to inquiries from the New York Post and Sky News by citing a tweet from Washington Post columnist Glenn Kessler, who observed that Mr. Biden had “non-melanoma skin tumors” removed before he became President.
