Did Joe Biden tell Senator Chris Coons' 13-year-old daughter that he was "horny" standing next to her? No, that's not true. The video of the then-vice president whispering into the ear of Coons' daughter Maggie has fake subtitles claiming he said he was "horny" to have the young teen next to him before he kissed on her head. Coons told FOX News that Biden was giving Maggie comforting advice to his daughter on how to deal with the attention on the day her father was sworn into the Senate.
The story appeared as a video (archived here) where it was published on Instagram on June 23, 2020. It was titled:
The lady in the back is visibly uncomfortable. She taps him like "that's enough". This is your democratic nominee. #JoeBiden #Biden
Instagram users saw this video
The video shows the vice president standing with the Coons family at his Senate swearing-in ceremony on January 6, 2015. His wife Annie says to their daughter, "Maggie, do you want to come over here," and the teen moves next to the vice president as he says, "Come on Maggie, make me look better."
After the family smiles for photos the vice president holds Maggie's arm and whispers into her ear. He then kisses her on the forehead and she leaves with her family.
The video that has gone viral has the following captions for what Biden is saying:
"By the way, Do you know how horny I am to have a 13-year-old girl standing right next to me?"
"Talk to my daughter Ashley about the film."
The video originally went viral in 2015 without the current captions. Coons addressed the situation on FOX News days later saying that Biden was not making his daughter uncomfortable, telling Fox News that she did not think he was "creepy," and explaining he was complimenting her and offering to have his own daughter give her advice about living in the public eye.
"You were sworn in for a term and congratulations this week," Fox host Chris Wallace said. "You can see there this video went viral of Joe Biden whispering in your daughter Maggie's ear and then giving her a kiss. A lot of people thought she looked very uncomfortable. What was he saying to her? I have to ask, does she think the vp is creepy?"
"No. Chris, she doesn't think the vice president is creepy," the senator from Delaware said. "He's known my kids their whole lives. Joe was just being thoughtful. He was leaning forward, I could hear him. He was leaning forward and whispering some encouragement to her. About how when he was sworn in and his own daughter Ashley was 13 she felt awkward and uncomfortable and he was encouraging her about how to get through a day with lots of cameras and lots of folks watching. He was being Joe. He was being thoughtful and he was being sweet."
"How does she feel about being a media star," Wallace asked.
"She's pleasantly surprised that more people have heard of her than have heard of me," he said.
Coons addressed the controversy again in April 2019, telling The Washington Post [archived here] Biden was praising the way she was handling the situation and offering to have his own daughter Ashley give her advice about living in the public eye.
He said the children think of Biden as a grandfather figure.
"She did not think of it as anything," Coons said of Biden's moment with his daughter. "All three of my kids have known Joe their whole lives."
Here is the original unedited video from C-Span:
