Watch: Biden appears to freeze at White House concert
Joe Biden appeared to briefly freeze while watching a concert at the White House to mark the Juneteenth holiday.
The US president, 81, stood stock still at the event on Monday evening as the rest of the crowd, including vice president Kamala Harris, swayed and clapped to gospel singer Kirk Franklin’s performance of his song Love Theory.
After about 30 seconds, Philonise Floyd – the brother of George Floyd, whose murder sparked a nationwide protest movement – seemed to notice something was amiss, putting his arm around Mr Biden before the pair bumped fists.
“Lights are on but no one’s home,” the Trump campaign said on Twitter.
“Who said Biden’s got no rhythm?” quipped Mike Lee, Utah’s Republican senator.
The president largely stayed seated throughout the concert, listening raptly and clapping along, as the rest of the audience stood and danced for nearly two hours.
Mr Biden signed a law in 2021 that made June 19, or Juneteenth, a federal holiday. It commemorates the day in 1865 – after the Confederate states surrendered to end the Civil War – when a Union general arrived to inform a group of enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, of their freedom under the Emancipation Proclamation.
“Black history is American history,” Mr Biden told the crowd after the concert. He said he would continue to fight for the rights of Black Americans even as some political leaders were working to take away their hard-won freedoms.
“The day reminds us that we have a helluva lot more work to do,” said Mr Biden. “Let’s keep marching. Let’s keep the faith.”
