WATCH: Joe Biden Tells Story of Facing Down Razor-Wielding Gang Leader Named ‘Corn Pop’

Tommy ChristopherSep 14th, 2019, 2:53 pm
 

Michael Harriot of The Root has published a hilariously skeptical tweetstorm about Vice President Joe Biden‘s account of facing down a gang leader named Corn Pop, and as luck would have it, Biden has told the story at least once on video.

As Harriott notes, Biden told this story in his autobiography, and again in 2017, but neither time as hilariously as Harriot did on Twitter Saturday.

Harriot’s skepticism notwithstanding, Biden is actually not alone in recalling the misadventures of Corn Pop and The Romans. At a dedication ceremony in 2017 for the Joseph R. Biden Jr. Aquatic Center in Wilmington, Delaware, former state NAACP President Richard “Mouse” Smith gave a firsthand account of the dustup.

Smith corroborated the first half of the story, noting that Biden used some “french language” when he told Corn Pop to get off the diving board, and that Mr. Pop did, indeed, threaten to “cut” Biden. He never got around to mentioning the confrontation in the parking lot, but did say that Biden “stood his ground.”

Smith and other contemporaries later corroborated other details of Biden’s story, such as the grudging respect that developed between Biden and The Romans.

Later at the same event, Biden told the story himself.

“Corn Pop was a bad dude, and he ran a bunch of bad boys,” Biden said, and recounted how “if you used pomade in your hair, you had to wear a bathing cap, and so he was up on the board, wouldn’t listen to me, I said ‘Hey Esther, you, off the board, I’ll come up and drag you off’.”

“Well he came off and he said ‘I’ll meet you outside’,” Biden said, adding that when he went out to his car, indeed “He was waiting there for me with three guys and straight razors. Not a joke.”

Biden then explained how a white pool mechanic named Bill Wright had cut him a 6-foot length of chain from the deep end of the pool prior to the confrontation at the car. He also described the steps for making razors rusty that were apparently popular at the time.

“And I looked at him, but I was smart then, I said first of all, I said when I tell you to get off the board you get off the board, and I’ll kick you out again, but I shouldn’t have called you Esther Williams, I apologize for that,” Biden said.

The apology mollified Corn Pop, who then closed his rusty razor and said “Okay.”

Here’s the full video of Biden’s remarks, via WITN Channel 22 – Wilmington Delaware.

Update: After this article was published, Corn Pop blew up on social media. CNN’s Daniel Dale dug up some more details on the story, including an obituary for a man named William L. “Cornpop” Morris. You can click on the tweet below to see the entire thread.

Dale also pointed out that Richard “Mouse” Smith corroborated much of Biden’s account at the same event 3 citing Mediaite — and Biden Senior Adviser Symone Sanders has been retweeting Dale’s research:

On Tuesday, Dale posted remarks from William “Corn Pop” Morris’ son, which you can read here.

As strange as this tale from 1962 sounds to 2019 ears, the evidence is overwhelming that it did, in fact, happen. Corn Pop is real.

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