Profane chant added to video of Biden at University of Pennsylvania graduation | Fact check

Isabella Fertel, USA TODAY
Updated ·3 min read
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President Joe Biden answers questions on the U.S. debt limits on May 20, 2023.
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The claim: Video shows crowd heckling Joe Biden during his granddaughter's graduation

A May 17 Twitter post (direct link, archive link) features a video of President Joe Biden and his family at the University of Pennsylvania’s 2023 commencement ceremony.

“F--- Joe Biden chants at Univ of Pennsylvania on Monday,” reads the text in the post.

The video has been shared more than 200 times on Facebook, according to the social media analytics tool CrowdTangle. It was retweeted more than 5,000 times. Other versions are circulating on Twitter and Facebook.

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Our rating: Altered

There was no such chant. The profane chant can't be heard in official footage of the University of Pennsylvania's May 15 graduation ceremony. Similar footage of the Biden family with the same music in the background also does not include the chant. Reporters who attended the ceremony said they did not hear any heckling.

No profane chant in other videos of Bidens at graduation ceremony

The video shows Biden attending his granddaughter Maisy Biden’s graduation ceremony at the University of Pennsylvania’s Franklin Field.

The president and his family, including his wife Jill Biden and children, Hunter and Ashley Biden, sat in the bleachers as the traditional “Pomp and Circumstance” processional played in the background.

The chant is not present at any point in the video of the ceremony published on the University of Pennsylvania’s 2023 commencement website. No chanting is audible in similar video clips of the president taken as the processional song played.

Reporters at the graduation ceremony told Reuters and the Associated Press they did not hear any profane chants targeting the president during the event.

“I did not hear any chants like that directed towards the president, nor did I hear any heckling,” Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, a press photographer present at the graduation, previously told Reuters.

There are no reports of the crowd shouting profanities at the president in any news coverage of the graduation.

USA TODAY has previously debunked posts with similar digitally added chants, including videos of Biden attending Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and former President Obama making a speech.

Fact check: Profane chant was digitally edited into a Biden speech on gun violence

USA TODAY reached out to the Twitter and Facebook users who shared the post for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

The Associated Press and Reuters also debunked this claim.

Our fact-check sources:

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Profane chant edited into video of Bidens in Philadelphia | Fact check