Several moments from President Joe Biden’s Juneteenth event at the White House went viral on social media.
On Monday (June 10), Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a star-studded event at the White House ahead of Juneteenth, which the president named an official holiday in 2021.
Event attendees included Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, rapper Doug E. Fresh, and actor/singer Billy Porter, who sat in the front row beside Harris’ husband, Douglas Emhoff. At one point during the celebration, Porter reached over the vice president and her husband to kiss Biden’s hands.
The moment went viral on social media as Porter is set to write, produce, and lead in an upcoming biopic about James Baldwin, a famed writer and civil rights activist.
“A black person kissing a white man’s hand to celebrate the end of slavery somehow seems kinda…off?” one X user tweeted.
Another moment from the Juneteenth celebration that caught social media’s attention was Biden appearing to freeze during a concert featuring gospel singer Kirk Franklin. In a clip circulated online, Biden stared blankly and wasn’t moving for roughly 30 seconds until Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd, who was murdered by police in 2020, put his arm around the president.
See how social media reacted to the moment below.
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