Joe Biden introduced black singer as ‘Michael Jackson’ at Democratic dinner

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During a 1980s fundraising dinner, Joe Biden singled out a black vocalist and introduced him to a crowd of Democrats and lobbyists as “Michael Jackson” and then “Prince,” two of the most famous black singers at the time.

The quip came during the $1,000-a-plate 1985 Democratic Congressional Dinner held at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., nearly 35 years ago. The event, attended overwhelmingly by white diners, was held to raise money for Democratic campaigns in the Senate and the House.

Biden, now running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, was in black tie and standing on stage beside the Gene Donati Orchestra, which was performing at the gala. Then a U.S. senator for Delaware, he introduced the white pianist and then turned to the singer.

“Now, the next man I would like you to meet,” Biden said. “Now, y’all got to sit down for this. We’re going to have some important people coming out in a minute. But there is one more band member that I want you to meet: Ladies and gentlemen, our vocalist tonight, Michael Jackson. Michael, would you please stand?” Biden said, pointing his hand toward the singer, who smiled and took a bow. Biden added: “Soon to become Prince, as was just pointed out to me.”

In fact, the singer was a D.C.-based performer named Jerome Powell. Looking back at Biden’s joke this week, Powell, now 75, told the Washington Examiner it was “just a big mistake” because Powell was influenced by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Tony Bennett and was nothing like Jackson. “People know the difference. I mean, Michael Jackson and I were in two entirely different categories.”

More than 30 senators and 100 congressmen were there, along with what the Washington Post described at the time as “a swarm of lobbyists” among the 1,900 attendees. Biden, now 77, was appearing alongside now-House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, now 80, of Maryland. Hoyer clapped and laughed at Biden’s joke. At the time, Jackson was at the height of his fame, having just recorded We Are the World, co-written with Lionel Richie. Prince had also just shot to fame, having released his Purple Rain album in 1984.


Powell said that while Biden’s comment was “a mistake on his side” because he shared no musical similarities with Jackson, he was not offended and did not feel Biden was racially insensitive. “I’m a very sensitive person, so my sensitivity would have kicked in when a statement like that was made. It didn’t. I would have commented or responded to it.”

During his career, Powell performed at seven inaugural balls and at the White House. A friend of Al Gore, now 71, he played at the future vice president’s wedding to Tipper Gore in 1970. He met Gore at the Fairfax Hotel on Embassy Row in D.C., owned by the Gore family, in the 1960s. “We go way back,” Powell said. “I used to work as a doorman, a bellhop, an elevator operator — part time, after school. And, of course, he was staying there with his parents, so that’s how we met.”

He described himself as a Democrat and said he is uncommitted in the 2020 primaries, with some reservations about Biden. “I don’t know which way this is going and how well he will stand up. But, as far as I’m concerned, his being knowledgeable of the political field, as long as his health can hold up, and, of course, he’s got the right people around him — I’m pretty sure of that — I guess I would support him.”

Last year, Ralph Northam, Democratic governor of Virginia, apologized for wearing blackface to dress up as Jackson at a dance contest in 1984. “I did participate in a dance contest in San Antonio in which I darkened my face as part of a Michael Jackson costume,” he said. “I look back now and regret that I did not understand the harmful legacy of an action like that.”

Biden has struggled with racial issues during his current presidential campaign, his third. In June, he touted his work in the Senate with segregationists James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia.

“Well, guess what? At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done,” Biden said of his relationship with the two, forcing him to issue an apology weeks later. On another occasion, he told supporters in Iowa that “poor kids” were just as clever and able as “white kids.”

Biden has led the Democratic field nationally throughout the 2020 Democratic primaries, though he has been overtaken in a number of polls in early voting states Iowa and New Hampshire. A RealClearPolitics national average of polls has him at 29.3% support.

The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment from the Washington Examiner.

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