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Loreben Tuquero
By Loreben Tuquero July 22, 2024

This video doesn’t show President Joe Biden’s first speech after dropping out. It’s a deepfake

If Your Time is short

  • This video is a deepfake. President Joe Biden hasn’t made any public appearances since he exited the presidential race July 21.

  • The video was altered from Biden’s speech on July 14, after former President Donald Trump’s attempted assassination.

  • Biden is recovering from COVID-19 and said July 21 that he would address the nation later in the week.

Over the weekend, President Joe Biden announced his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race. A post suggests that Biden is now responding to criticism following that announcement with vulgarity. 

A July 21 X post featured a video of what looks like Biden, with the PBS News logo in the bottom left corner. The post was captioned, "Breaking Now: President Joe Biden makes his first video address following dropping out of the Presidential race."

Biden appears to say, "My fellow Americans, I want to take a moment to address some of the hateful s— you've been talking about me. Many of you have said I am suffering from brain worms, or that I have applesauce for brains. Well, I won't mince words, so here it is: f— you. You're all a bunch of f------. End of quote. Repeat the line."

(Screenshot from X)

But Biden didn’t say this. The video is a deepfake. 

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PBS News posted a statement July 21 on X debunking the video, saying, "A deepfake video of President Joe Biden bearing our logo is circulating on social media. Biden did not make this statement. PBS News did not authorize the use of this video and we do not condone altering news video or audio in any way that could mislead the audience."

PBS News’ X post didn’t link to a video, but Nick Massella, PBS News’ head of communications, confirmed to PolitiFact that the statement was referring to this particular video.

Based on Biden’s clothes, gestures and backdrop, the video looks as if it was altered from his July 14 address after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

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The first part of his statement — where his gestures match the ones in the falsified video — was as follows:

"My fellow Americans, I want to speak to you tonight about the need for us to lower the temperature in our politics and to remember, while we may disagree, we are not enemies. We’re neighbors. We’re friends, coworkers, citizens. And, most importantly, we are fellow Americans. And we must stand together." 

Biden hasn’t appeared publicly since he announced on X that he was dropping out. He tested positive for COVID-19 on July 17 and has been self-isolating in his Rehoboth, Delaware, home. When he said in a letter that he would withdraw from the race, he wrote that he planned to address the nation about his decision later in the week.

We rate this claim Pants on Fire!

RELATED: Joe Biden drops out of 2024 presidential race. Read PolitiFact's updating coverage

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This video doesn’t show President Joe Biden’s first speech after dropping out. It’s a deepfake

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