Joe Biden has been slammed by Unionists after mistaking the rugby team for brutal police
ERROR Joe Biden has been slammed by Unionists for mistaking a rugby team for brutal police force.
The US President referred to New Zealand’s All Blacks as the Black and Tans – a British regiment sent to Ireland in the 1920s to crush nationalist rebels.
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He made the slip in a County Louth pub while thanking his distant cousin Rob Kearney, who played for Ireland, for a tie gift.
Mr Biden, 80, insisted: “This was given to me by one of these guys here.
“He was a damn good rugby player.
“He beat up the Black and Tans.”
The White House issued a correction, but Mr Biden’s error sparked claims that he favored Ireland over Britain.
Tom Elliott, an Ulster Unionist Party assemblyman at Stormont, said the blip showed the President was “siding with the nationalist community”.
He said: “He doesn’t even try to be neutral on these occasions, he’s just stating his Irishness and that in our view he’s not an honest broker.”
DUP MP Sammy Wilson said he was a “dumbo fanatic”.
Today the US President met Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and addressed both houses of the Dail and Seanad Parliaments.
Mr Biden also appeared in a selfie with former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams in Dublin.
