In July 2024, a viral post purported to share a real graphic from British broadcaster BBC News, quoting U.S. President Joe Biden as saying "inaudible" during a speech, as though reading from a teleprompter. The graphic included an image of Biden speaking, with the caption below reading: "Let me say this as clearly and simply as I can: [inaudible]."
The above image was edited to appear like a BBC News graphic, but it was not real. We found no evidence of such an image on BBC News' official social media accounts. The statement in question on the graphic is also inaccurate, as Biden was not inaudible at that moment in his speech. As such, we rate this graphic as "Fake."
We found the authentic graphic of Biden on BBC's Instagram account. The graphic quotes Biden as saying, "Let me say this as clearly and simply as I can: I'm running."
(Instagram user @bbcnews)
The above words also appeared in a fundraising email the Biden campaign sent out after a campaign call with senior Democrats in which he worked to calm concerns about his fitness to run for office.
Biden also made a similar statement in a campaign speech in Wisconsin on July 5, 2024: "They're trying to push me out of the race. Well, let me say this as clearly as I can: I'm staying in the race! I'll beat Donald Trump. I will beat him again in 2020 and by the way we're going to do it again in 2024."
While Biden's words were clear in the speech, he still stated the wrong election year. The aim of the fake graphic — which pokes fun at Biden's missteps during his presidential debate with former President Donald Trump on June 27 — is clearly satirical. During that debate , the 81-year-old Biden appeared to be confused, lost his train of thought, and stared blankly into the distance at times. Soon after this performance, many Democrats and allies expressed worry about Biden's physical limitations and health, and questioned his ability to win against Trump in the November general election.
This was not the only edited version of the same BBC graphic to make the internet rounds. Another version posted on X appeared to make fun of Biden's stutter , a speech condition he had in his childhood and later worked to bring under control.
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