After Biden insulted Corn Pop, the gang leader supposedly said he’d meet the future vice president outside his car when he got off work. Biden says Corn Pop showed up with three guys and straight razors, but that a white mechanic working at the pool cut a six-foot length of chain from the line that separated the deep end for Biden to arm himself with. Biden told the story of Corn Pop at the naming ceremony in 2017.
- A tough guy by the name of CornPop, leader of a Delaware gang called “the Romans”, was waiting for him outside the pool.
- “Corn Pop was a bad dude,” Mr Biden told the crowd in the video.
- But a video of him retelling it at an event in 2017, at the pool’s dedication ceremony after it was renamed for him, resurfaced earlier this week.
- Conservative media personality Ben Shapiro reposted the clip of Psaki’s commentary Tuesday afternoon, writing on Twitter, “To be fair, ‘Corn Pop was a bad dude’ is a good story.”
- “Joe understands black folks, poor folks, all folks,” Smith said at the 2017 event.
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In the video from the pool renaming ceremony, Biden also explains that the straight razors wielded by Corn Pop and his fellow gang members were rusty, since that was apparently a common method of street fighting at the time. Biden says he apologized to Corn Pop for calling him Esther Williams but insisted that he couldn’t mess around on the diving board. And that, apparently, made Corn Pop close his razor and decide to be friends with Biden. When telling his story, Biden has said that he worked as the only white lifeguard at the Prices Run swimming pool in Brown-Burton Winchester Park in Wilmington, Delaware. The pool has since been renamed the Joseph R. Biden Aquatic Center – at the dedication ceremony, Biden told the story again, and video of his retelling also circulated on Twitter.
Corn Pop’s son confirms his dad knew Joe Biden
Mr Morris was born after the alleged pool incident, according to Mr Dale’s tweets, but said that his relatives told him his father did talk about Mr Biden, referring to “some type of run in or something with my dad”. The story raised eyebrows, especially in light of a series of inaccuracies that emerged from a story Mr Biden told last month about an incident in which he met a war hero in Afghanistan. The saga of Joe Biden’s mysterious story from the 1960s, in which he and a man called Corn Pop almost battled with a knife and a chain but ultimately did not, may have been confirmed. Harriot claimed the story represents a “jigaboo version” of race “that is almost alien-like,” but so far, fact-checked elements of Biden’s story appear to be true. Acting on the advice of a man he described as a pool mechanic, Biden walked out to meet CornPop head on.
Who is Corn Pop? Here are all the theories about the gang leader from Joe Biden’s past
To avoid a physical confrontation, Mr Biden apologised for calling him Esther Williams, thus, it appears, defusing the situation and reaching a satisfying moral conclusion about standing up for yourself but avoiding violence where possible. CNN reporter Daniel Dale, meanwhile, found an obituary for a Wilmington man called William L “CornPop” Morris, who died in 2016 aged 73. One day, Biden recalled, CornPop refused to wear a bathing cap, flouting pool rules. Biden spotted him on the pool’s 3m diving board, and decided to lay down the law. It turns out, however, that the presidential candidate might have been telling the truth.
State of the Union Revives Biden’s ‘Corn Pop’ Story—and Mocking
The former vice president recalled that Morris was not wearing a swim cap, which was required of swimmers at the time who had Pomade in their hair. Biden, the only white lifeguard at the pool at the time, told Morris to get off the diving board and kicked him out of the pool. “Not a joke,” said Biden, who made the comments two years ago when the Brown-Burton-Winchester Park in Wilmington, Delaware was renamed the Joseph R. Biden Jr.
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He commented that Biden used some “colorful” language when urging Corn Pop to get off the diving board. Richard “Mouse” Smith, former president of the Delaware NAACP, also recalled Biden’s time as a lifeguard. In a series of tweets, CNN journalist Daniel Dale confirmed that the younger Mr Morris “said he has no problem at all with Biden telling the story from the 60s, but he doesn’t want people to think of his dad as a bad guy based on something in the distant past”. According to the former vice president, Corn Pop was so offended by the Esther comment that he challenged Mr Biden to a fight outside. Mr Biden wrapped a chain around his wrist, but Corn Pop had a knife.
Others were skeptical about the very idea of a chain-wielding Biden facing off with three armed gang members. That story particularly gained attention in 2019 when a video of Biden retelling it went viral, with the president telling a crowd at a ceremony in 2017 that “Corn Pop was a bad dude.” During the 2017 naming ceremony, Biden said he wanted to work at the pool because he wanted to “get more involved” with the black community in Wilmington. The two-minute clip made many people wonder on Twitter who “Corn Pop” is and if the incident actually occurred. To many in Wilmington, Biden’s time as a lifeguard marked the beginning of his close relationship with and understanding of Delaware’s African American community.
The former Delaware senator recalled that, as a young man, he had been a security guard there, one of very few white employees. The year was 1962, and Joe Biden, a swimming pool security guard in his early 20s, had a problem. A tough guy by the name of CornPop, leader of a Delaware gang called “the Romans”, was waiting for him outside the pool.
Biden said he told the gang member, “I apologize not for throwing you out, but for what I said. He said ok and closed his straight razor and my heart started to beat again.” The video was shared by a Daily Caller freelance contributor, and it has been viewed more than 2 million times. “Well he came off, and he said ‘I’ll meet you outside,’” Biden recalls. Biden says Corn Pop was waiting for him outside with “three guys and a straight razor.” So Biden walked out to his car, which was where Corn Pop was waiting for him, with a 6-foot chain. Despite the seemingly fantastical nature of the encounter Biden described, along with the suspicions that reverberated online following questionable elements of other stories he has frequently told, further reporting shows some key details of the story are supported. CNN reporter Daniel Dale found the obituary for Wilmington native William L.
Now, Mr Morris’s son, Leon Morris, wants people to know that his father wasn’t really a knife-wielding villain.
Twitter users are mocking President Joe Biden ahead of the State of the Union address Tuesday evening, resurfacing the president’s previous story about a gang leader named “Corn Pop.” The two exchanged words, according to Biden, which resulted in a confrontation near the parking lot. Biden said Corn Pop and two others had straight razors in their hands.
Or perhaps, like many of Biden’s stories, Corn Pop is just a victim of one of his very, very tall tales. Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
A former state president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) had supported Biden’s yarn. Jason Mattera, a conservative author and activist, also reposted Psaki’s clip, noting, “…especially his ‘amazing’ stories of corn pop and attending a HBCU.” The clip of Psaki’s advice was later posted on Twitter by the Daily Caller, sparking criticism over Biden’s storytelling in the past. Many Wilmington and Delaware politicians were at the pool naming ceremony, including Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester. She said at the time that the pool is representative of Biden’s character.
“I’d turn on the television and I’d see and listen to Dr. (Martin Luther) King and others, but I didn’t know any black people,” he said. “Joe understands black folks, poor folks, all folks,” Smith said at the 2017 event. Biden said Corn Pop was up on the board and wouldn’t listen to him.