First lady Jill Biden corrected her husband, President Joe Biden, on Tuesday after he mistakenly referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as the first lady.
The president confused the two women in his life during a speech at a Women’s History Month celebration at the White House.
“[T]here’s been a little change in the arrangement of who’s on the stage because of the first lady’s husband contracting COVID,” Biden said.
Biden was meaning to refer to Vice President Kamala Harris, whose husband, Doug Emhoff, currently known as the “second gentleman,” tested positive for the coronavirus earlier in the day. Harris dropped out of the event after learning her husband tested positive for the virus.
(The first lady’s husband is actually Biden himself.)
After Biden’s blunder, first lady Jill Biden interrupted the president to point out his mistake.
“Pardon?” Biden replied.
“You said the first — anyways,” his wife began before giving up as the crowd started laughing.
“That’s right. She’s fine. It’s me that’s not together,” Biden continued as the crowd laughed.
“The Second La- — the First Gentleman,” he said finally as the crowd laughed again. “How about that?”
Biden reminded the crowd of the number of women he appointed in his administration.
“One person I’m particularly proud of is — was going to be introducing me — is Kamala Harris,” he said, noting again that her husband had coronavirus.
“He’s fine, but out of an abundance of caution, she decided she wasn’t going to join us today,” Biden said. “But let’s send her our love because she’s something else.”