WATCH: Joe Biden Gets Heckled at Democratic Party Gala

Ex-President Joe Biden probably expected a friendlier welcome at the Maryland Democratic Party gala on Sunday night than the one he received.

The former commander-in-chief was forced to halt his speech just a few minutes after starting when a female heckler started screaming at him and other members of the crowd started to boo; it was unclear if those boos were directed at Biden or the heckler. The woman could be heard ripping Biden for being “Genocide Joe,” referring to the nickname critics gave him for his approach to Israel’s war in Gaza.

It sounded like a few other people joined the Biden bashing, too. The Washington Examiner reported “attendees began jeering loudly” at Biden, who paused for 11 seconds while the racket was going on before continuing with his speech.

And much of that speech was dedicated to bashing President Donald Trump. Biden ripped Trump for his “vanity projects,” like “putting his name on the Kennedy Center” and his plan to build a giant arch in Washington, D.C.

Biden then fumed Trump’s revamp of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool “reflects something even worse than [the] narcissism and incompetence at the core of this administration — it’s the corruption! The corruption! The brazen, blatant corruption — corruption on a scale never seen before in American history.”

The 83-year-old Biden later needed a bit of help finding his way off stage.

Saturday night’s awkwardness comes just a few months after another bizarre Biden moment earlier in 2026. During a ceremony at Syracuse University in April, Biden prodded a university leader to return to the stage because he looked like ex-President Barack Obama. Syracuse’s chairman of the board of trustees, Jeffrey M. Scruggs, had just finished honoring Biden a few minutes earlier before the ex-president took the stage. Biden then marveled at how much Scruggs looked like Obama — at least in his view.

“By the way, I always want to turn around [to] one guy and say ‘Barack, what are you doing?’” Biden said.

The comment drew a big laugh from the attendees. Biden then urged him to walk back to the podium, pointing at Scruggs and telling him six times to return.

“Doesn’t he look like Barack!?” Biden claimed to the crowd. Scruggs smiled, shook his head and raised his left arm in a semi-shrug. He didn’t appear to love the comment, but he took it in stride.

Watch above via C-SPAN.

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