Joe Biden During Celebrity Fundraiser: George Floyd Death ‘Ripped Open This Ugly Underbelly of Our Society’

Joe Biden spent Thursday evening raising money for his presidential campaign with assistance from celebrities including Whoopi Goldberg and musicians Sheryl Crow and Joe Walsh. The presumptive Democrat candidate also spent time during the virtual fundraiser discussing George Floyd, saying that the Minneapolis man’s death has “ripped open this ugly underbelly of our society.”

Biden told his celebrity friends that the country needs to “heal,” but then took to Twitter the following morning to attack President Donald Trump, falsely claiming that the president is “calling for violence against American citizens.”

During Thursday’s fundraiser, the Democrat candidate called for investigations into Floyd’s death, demanding that the officers seen in the video of Floyd “must be held accountable,” according to a pool reporting published in Deadline. Biden also called for investigations by the FBI investigation and the Department of Justice.
President Donald Trump has already requested probes by the FBI and the Department of Justice, saying they are “already well into an investigation.”

Biden is coming off a difficult week after saying during a radio interview that black people “ain’t black” unless they vote for him. His remark drew condemnation from prominent black figures in politics, business, and culture.

Whoopi Goldberg acknowledged Biden’s frequent verbal mishaps..

“He is not perfect. He and I share several really great things in our life. We share the ability to get ourselves in trouble. We don’t mean to, we just do,” Goldberg reportedly said during Thursday’s fundraiser. “Sometimes you make a step and you’re in it. This happens. But what I do know is he is the best man to get us in a better place.”

On Thursday, Biden told his fundraising guests that the country is currently suffering from an “open wound.”

“We can’t ignore that we are in a country with an open wound right now,” the candidate reportedly said. “A wound far older and deeper than George Floyd’s killing — and his brutal, brutal death captured on film. His final words, pleading for breathe. ‘Let me breathe, I can’t breathe.’ It’s ripped open anew this this ugly underbelly of our society.”