Hugs on a public stage can be an egregiously awkward affair.
Is the hug too intimate? Is the hug too cold? Where are his/her hands going? How long should this hug last? Who initiates the hug? Who ends the hug?
All of those questions were thrust to the forefront of public discourse after an uncomfortable hug was captured on camera between President Joe Biden and popular actress Eva Longoria.
On Thursday, Biden and the first lady hosted a screening of “Flamin’ Hot,” the dramatized biopic of the man behind the wildly popular Cheetos flavoring — and directed by Longoria — at the White House.
As part of those festivities, which you can see in its entirety below, Longoria was in attendance. That’s when the awkward moment was caught on camera.
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The 15-minute video is about what you’d expect from the Biden administration, but eagle-eyed viewers locked onto a curious interaction right at the end of the clip:
Joe Biden living up to his predatory history yesterday by groping Eva Longoria at the White House.
Share it for everyone to see in slow motion because the leftist media won’t touch it.
If this was Trump, it would be all over and the White House be giving a speech. pic.twitter.com/yrdURiSYjz
— The Tank (@RickTheTank) June 16, 2023
The tweeter blasted Biden and the establishment media in a blistering post:
Should the White House issue an apology?
Yes: 98% (1627 Votes)
No: 2% (36 Votes)
“Joe Biden living up to his predatory history yesterday by groping Eva Longoria at the White House,” Twitter user @RickTheTank noted. “Share it for everyone to see in slow motion because the leftist media won’t touch it.
“If this was Trump, it would be all over and the White House be giving a speech.”
In a zoomed-in, slowed-down clip, it appears like Biden’s hands are wandering to places they shouldn’t be, and Longoria seemingly pulls away and/or redirects Biden’s hands for him.
The comments, unsurprisingly, were blistering under the viral social media clip (it had been seen over 104,000 times as of midday Friday.)
Twitter users blasted Biden for trying to “cop a feel,” being a “groper,” and called the move “disgusting and despicable.”
Come on baby do you want to see my hair stand let me just cop a feel one more time
— Jose Galan ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@jgalan707) June 16, 2023
Groomers and gropers! 🤣
— Penithetroublemaker 🇺🇸 (@Penithetrouble1) June 16, 2023
Disgusting and despicable.
— space ghost (@retirement_guru) June 16, 2023
Conversely, some of Biden’s staunchest online supporters dismissed the viral clip as much ado about nothing.
Imagine trying to sexualize this hug between Joe Biden and Eva Longoria but pretending that Trump having to pay millions after a jury found him liable for sex assault is nothing to be upset about.
Why do those on the right, who claim the left is sexualizing everything have to… pic.twitter.com/J7YPPmkhI9
— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) June 16, 2023
Democrat activist Brian Krassenstein blasted the viral clip as an attempt by the right to “sexualize” everything.
While the truth of the matter (Krassenstein does note that Biden and Longoria have been friends “for 30 years”) may be impossible to discern short of Longoria coming out and blasting Biden, at the very least, the incumbent president should be aware of the negative reputation he’s fostering when it comes to his interactions with women — and has been for decades.
Allegations of inappropriate conduct with women have dogged Biden since at least the 1990s, when then-Biden staffer Tara Reade accused the then-senator of sexually assaulting her.
It’s an allegation that has never been proven in court and one that Biden has vehemently denied — but the allegations persist.
Aside from the checkered history with Reade, Biden has also been slammed for seemingly inappropriate interactions with women and young girls.
Time and time again, the incumbent president has been reamed for seemingly bizarre interactions that, individually speaking, may not seem all that noteworthy.
But taken as a collection of repeated events? It’s a poor look, at best, for the president.
For Biden, however much he may not want to deal with yet another allegation of inappropriate touching with what his hands were or were not doing to Longoria (and whether or not she pulled away from him), he would probably rather deal with this than the ongoing allegations of bribery being hurled against him.
Neither Biden nor Longoria had publicly acknowledged the viral video clip as of Friday afternoon.
