No, Joe Biden did not start a press briefing on the Nashville shooting by talking about ice-cream

By: Ankita Kulkarni
April 5 2023

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Context

Three children and three adults were killed in a mass shooting at a Presbyterian-affiliated Covenant School in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., on March 27, 2023. Following the shooting, several misleading and false claims have been circulating online. One such post on Twitter was a short clip of U.S. President Joe Biden talking about ice cream, shared with the claim that he was insensitive while addressing a press conference on the Nashville school shooting incident. The caption to the post reads, "I assumed this was a deepfake. But it's all over the news. Joe Biden really did kick off a news conference about the trans mass shooter by joking about ice cream and "good looking kids." What an absolute clown show (sic)." The video has over 80,600 likes on the platform.

Although Biden did speak about ice cream in his first public statement since the incident, the posts omit the context of his remarks. 

In Fact

A reverse image search using a screenshot from the viral video showed us that Biden was not addressing a news conference specifically about the Nashville school shooting, as claimed in the post. He was addressing a meeting at the SBA Women's Business Summit.

The same video was uploaded on The Washington Post's official YouTube channel on March 28, 2023. The caption reads, "Biden delivers remarks at the Women's Business Summit." At the 11:22-minute mark in the video, we can hear Biden starting his address by saying, "Thank you. My name is Joe Biden. (Laughter.) I'm Dr. Jill Biden's husband. (Laughter.) And I eat Jeni's Ice Cream, chocolate chip. (Laughter.) I came down because I heard there was chocolate chip ice cream. (Laughter.)" After this, he goes on to address children present in the audience, which matches the context of his ice cream remarks. Biden says, "And it's a delight to have you all here. And who are those good-looking kids back here?"

The transcript of the speech was also uploaded to the White House website. While the talk was for the Women's Business Summit, Biden briefly addressed the Nashville school shooting incident, noting that "it's sick." However, this was not a press briefing specifically organized to address the shooting. The Nashville school shooting incident was officially addressed by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on March 27, 2023, moments before Biden addressed the summit. 

Therefore, Biden's speech cited in a viral video was not intended to address the shooting but was held for a very different event.

The Verdict

Preisdent Biden did not talk about ice cream at a press briefing held to address the Nashville school shooting incident. His remarks while speaking to children at the SBA Women's Business Summit are being presented out of context. Therefore, we have marked the claim misleading.