On April 11, 2022, videos began to circulate in which US President Joe Biden seemed to utter the nonsensical words: “Imagine if the tobacco industry had been immune from the prostitute being sued.” We also receive inquiries from readers about the legitimacy of the citation. Official White House video showed that Biden did indeed utter these words.
The video
one of the viral videos came from Sky News Australia. It was on track to be viewed over 1 million times in less than 24 hours:
The official Youtube The White House channel posted a video of the entire event. The part where Biden says the word “prostitute” appears at 27:42 in the video:
the transcript
The time came during which the official White House transcription called, “Remarks by President Biden Announcing Actions to Fight Gun Crime and His Nominee for ATF Director, Steve Dettelbach.” The event was held at the Rose Garden on April 11, 2022.
In the official transcript of Biden’s remarks, the word “prostitute” is not spelled out. Rather, it translates as “prost-“, with a hyphen.
According to the official transcript, the sentences that came before and after the statement in question suggest that Biden may have intended to use the word “prosecution,” not “prostitution.” We have reached out to the White House for further clarification.
The official White House transcript reads as follows:
Not seriously. Think about it. He thinks of mass shootings. Up to a hundred rounds. It is a weapon of war. It has nothing to do with recreation.
Absolute ban on the sale and possession of non-serialized weapons.
Eliminate liability immunity for gun manufacturers. They’re the only team — (applause) — they’re the only team in the country that’s immune.
Imagine if the tobacco industry had been immune to prost… to being sued. Go.
In February, the families of nine of the Sandy Hook shooting victims reached a settlement with the manufacturer of the weapons used to kill their children.
The people of Sandy – Sandy Hook are here. Will you be embarrassed if I ask you to get up? (Applause.) These people here did more than anyone else to keep this whole thing going. We owe you, man. We owe you. (Applause.) It never goes away, does it? God loves you.
Look, this is incredibly rare because weapons manufacturers have more immunity from liability than any other US industry, so they’ve never had to take responsibility for the death and destruction their products cause. But as part of this deal, Remington agreed to release thousands of pages of internal documents.
This story will be updated if we hear back from the White House.
Sources:
“Remarks by President Biden announcing actions to combat gun crime and his nominee for ATF director, Steve Dettelbach.” The White HouseApril 11, 2022, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/04/11/press-briefing-by-press-secretary-jen-psaki-april-11-2022/ .
The White House. President Biden Announces New Administration Action to Fight Gun Crime. 2022. www.youtube.comhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYvCzxjbAbw.
Reference-www.snopes.com