President Joe Biden appeared to have some difficulty differentiating between pop stars when he made a few off-the-cuff comments during Monday’s ceremonial turkey pardon at the White House.
Biden was explaining just how difficult the selection process was to find the turkeys for the pardon, and attempted to compare that to how challenging it could be to secure tickets for popular concerts — such as Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, which was so popular that it was released in theaters. His comparison went sideways, however, when he appeared to confuse Swift with Britney Spears and Beyonce.
WATCH:
Joe Biden makes a joke about how hard it is to get tickets to Beyonce's Renaissance Tour except he says that her name is "Brittany.
He then says she is currently performing in Brazil, which is where Taylor Swift just did shows on her Eras Tour.
Beyonce's tour ended in October. pic.twitter.com/LUZb9UMeUS
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 20, 2023
“Liberty and Bell had to beat some tough odds, competition,” Biden said of the turkeys. “Harder than getting a ticket to The Renaissance Tour — or, or to Britney’s tour, she’s down in – it’s kind of warm in Brazil right now.”
But unfortunately for Biden, the joke was more confusing than it was funny. The Renaissance Tour — which was Beyonce’s recent outing, ended on October 1 in Kansas City. Britney Spears is not touring at all, and hasn’t since her tenth outing in 2018, her Piece of Me Tour.
Swift is the only one of the three who is currently on tour — and she is in Brazil — but a joke about the heat in Rio de Janeiro was likely to rub some fans the wrong way after one young woman died at Swift’s concert there.
Ana Clara Benevides, 23, reportedly died of cardiac arrest in the extreme heat — and a number of other fans fainted at the first of three sold-out shows at the open-air venue. Fans took to social media to complain about the lack of water available, and at one point during the show, Swift called on security to help get water to concert-goers.
Swift offered her condolences via Instagram after learning that Benevides had died, saying in part, “I can’t believe I’m writing these words, but it is with a shattered heart that I say we lost a fan earlier tonight before my show … I feel this loss deeply, and by broken heart goes out other family and friends.”
Screenshot/Instagram/TaylorSwift