I just saw a hilarious parody of the 1967 classic movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.” It was really funny. It starts out with the very White Joe Biden character standing in line at a Black-run fast-food outlet – buying a family sized meal. In the next, the Biden character is sitting at a table having dinner with a Black father and his two teenage sons. The Biden character asks the kids about school. They talk about student loans (and brought up a chuckle) and, of course, basketball.
“Biden” brought chicken for the Black characters in the video. He takes a ceremonial bit of a leg, but has purchased a bacon cheeseburger for himself. I had to laugh out loud at that one. (At that point I wondered if Larry David had scripted this video.)
Whoever produced the video had “Joe” looking old and weak, as a parody would – sort of like an elderly White grandpa struggling to make meaningful talk with young Black dudes. But he seemed rather ill-at-ease and patronizing. I assume that was the point of the humor. Not sure how the producers missed watermelon as a laugh line.
I showed the video to a couple of Black friends, and they laughed uproariously. Saturday Night Live could not have done a better job.
(What? WHAT? It was not a parody? That was a real Biden campaign video? Noooo. Come on, man. You’re kidding me.) Oh my god! It was a REAL Biden campaign video. In the world of self-parody, this has to be a topper.
Instead of portraying Biden as energetic and “with it,” he came across as some retired old geezer trying to relate to folks he does not relate to. The association of chicken with Black folks was both obvious and crude. In a parody, okay. But as a means of relating for real, it is pitiful.
And that is not all.
Have you seen the meme of Biden with the glowing red eyes? It was the latest episode in the “Let’s go, Brandon” running joke. You may recall that when a lady sports reporter was interviewing NASCAR driver Brandon Brown, the crowd – unrelated to the interview – was yelling “F*** you, Biden.” To Override the chant, the reporter said. “They are yelling “Let’s go Brandon.” Since that time, “Let’s go, Brandon” has been the euphemistic term for … well, you know.
By some mysterious route, the “Let’s go, Brandon” was incorporated in a “Dark Brandon” meme reportedly created by an X user @TheRealHoarse. It depicts Biden as an evil alien with laser eyes. It was created in response to “Dark Maga” memes depicting Trump as an alien villain with laser eyes.
Well … Team Biden decided to trump (no pun intended) the meaning of the “Dark Brandon” meme with their own use of it. That’s right. They apparently decided that the best way to defuse the “Brandon” thing was to … promote it. To remind people of it. They even have Biden drinking from a laser eye “Dark Brandon (Biden)” mug.
We have the Biden campaign showing “Dark Brandon”- style meme as their means of fighting back. They have previously used the laser-eye Biden meme in a video in which the eyes turn red when hot coffee is poured into a coffee cup.
Apparently, the laser-eyed Biden (Brandon) is designed to reach the younger generation voters by making Biden “cool.” This is a perilous strategy since old men are not “cool” – especially when they try too hard to look cool by trying to act like a kid.
So, does Biden wear sunglasses so often to conceal his laser eyes or merely to look cool? Of course, he does not really have laser eyes – more like lazy eyes. (You know … that old person squint.) And sunglasses have not been “cool” since Miami Vice – the old television show, not the Florida crime report.
Summary
This campaign season could use a bit more humor, but that is NOT what Team Biden is producing – at least not intentionally. If they are getting any laughs at all, it is more mocking than mirth. Understandably, the video received a backlash from social media types and even some Black folks – calling it “pandering” and “racial stereotyping.”
The Dark Biden theme is another feeble attempt to relate to a voter group. The laser-eyed Biden is just as obvious, but not nearly as funny.
Whatever you think of Biden’s mental acuity, he can only be blamed for not recognizing the position his handlers put him in. Who are the “geniuses” who came up with these ideas? Maybe THEY should be going in for cognitive testing.
So, there ‘tis.
