A clip of President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden having a tense conversation at Ethel Kennedy’s funeral has sparked a slew of theories on social media.
The video of the very animated interaction went viral on Wednesday during the service for the 96-year-old mataricah of the Kennedy family.
Obama appears to say ‘no’ and ‘not good’ while shaking his head in the conversation at the at St. Matthew the Apostle Catholic Cathedral at Washington, DC.
Bill Clinton‘s comments calling the widow of Robert Kennedy’s late widow the ‘cat’s meow‘ raised eyebrows among viewers.
No audio was captured except for the blaring church organ, but social media users were immediately curious about the nature of their conversation.
US President Joe Biden (L) speaks with former president Barack Obama (R) ahead of a memorial service for Ethel KennedyBiden turned and spoke to Obama as the former president crossed his arms and shook his head while speaking back at Biden and emphasizing his point with hand gestures.
At one point, Obama even tried to turn away from Biden, prompting Biden to reach out and touch his arm.
Biden and Obama were joined at the funeral by former President Bill Clinton, who sat beside them.
The funeral is the first time Obama and Biden have met since the current president abandoned his reelection campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris.
The conversation appears to have been interrupted by Clinton who looked over at them and gestured toward the front of the cathedral.
US President Joe Biden (L), alongside former presidents Barack Obama (C) and Bill Clinton (R) attends a memorial service for Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Robert F. Kennedy, at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, DC
One user on X.com said she reached out to some of her deaf coworkers on Facebook to see if she could get information about what they were saying.
‘Obama says ‘No’ then shakes his head and says ‘Not good,” she wrote. ‘Hopefully they are talking about Kamala’s campaign LOL.’
Another user shared a similar observation on X.com.
‘I couldn’t make out what Biden uttered to Obama, but the beginning of the reply from Obama was, ‘Nope, nope … (he nods his head, no, and then says) it’s gone,’ she wrote. ‘The look on Obamas face is ominous, and Biden’s look is one of shock.’
Obama endorsed Kamala Harris after Biden dropped out of the race and was last week on the campaign trail.
He stirred controversy for accusing black male voters who don’t support Harris of sexism and demanded they got on board with the Democrats.
Ethel Kennedy was the widow of former U.S. attorney general and U.S. senator Robert, who was assassinated while seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968.
Biden, Obama and Clinton sing during the memorial service for Ethel Kennedy on Wednesday
She never remarried and went on to raise her 11 children, enduring a host of other family tragedies along the way, including separate plane crashes that killed her parents, brother and nephew as well as the untimely deaths of several of her children, grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
She and her husband were devastated by the assassination of his brother, President John F. Kennedy, in Dallas in 1963.
Biden, a fellow Irish Catholic who has leaned on his faith amid his own losses, including the death of his son Beau, said the Democratic family matriarch was there for him at his time of tragedy.
He said her husband had been one of his heroes.
‘Ethel was a hero in her own right,’ Biden said.
‘She was a spitfire,’ Obama said. ‘As serious as Ethel was about righting wrongs, she never seemed to take herself too seriously.’
