Video of protesters heckling Joe Biden in his hometown is from 2021, not 2024

President Joe Biden made a campaign stop April 16 in his hometown, Scranton, the first of three days of Pennsylvania campaigning.

He received a warm welcome from supporters when he visited his childhood residence, but several social media posts suggested the city’s residents were hostile to the president.

"This is how Joe Biden was greeted in his hometown of Scranton, (Pennsylvania)," said an April 18 X post with a laughing emoji. The post, which had 1.3 million views as of April 19, shared a video of Biden’s motorcade passing a Scranton restaurant with supporters and protesters on both sides of the street.

Chants of "Let’s go Biden" can be heard, and also chants of "Let’s go Brandon" — a code for a vulgar insult toward Biden that originated at a 2021 Alabama NASCAR race. One man in the video swore at the passing motorcade and made a vulgar hand gesture.

We found several social media posts sharing the video, as well as conservative commentator Benny Johnson. "What was it like when Joe Biden drove through his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania yesterday," Johnson said in an April 18 video shared on his YouTube page, which has nearly 2 million subscribers.

It’s not uncommon for presidents to get booed or heckled, even in states they have called home. Former President Donald Trump has heard from critics in New York, and Barack Obama has been heckled in Chicago.

But the video being shared on X and other platforms is not from 2024. It is more than two years old.

(X screenshot)

We did a reverse-image search and searched TikTok for the account name that’s visible in the video shared on X. That TikTokker first shared the video Oct. 20, 2021.

Featured Fact-check

Social Media

stated on September 21, 2024 in a video

Sen. JD Vance admitted he has a ‘rent-a-dog’ from the Trump campaign to make him “seem like a dog person.”

The video was taken in Scranton during Biden’s visit that year. We checked Google Maps and the Railyard Restaurant and Bar and surrounding buildings that are shown in the video match with Google images of the area outside the restaurant.

Conservative media sites shared the video in 2021 to highlight Biden being booed in his hometown.

News reports show Biden was met by some protesters during his April 16 Scranton visit, including those calling for a Gaza cease-fire. 

But The Associated Press reported that throughout the multiple stops Biden made in Scranton, "crowds lined the streets to cheer his motorcade." The AP said, "Trump flags were rare, and there was only a smattering of protests" related to Biden’s policies in Gaza.

We rate the claim a video shows hecklers April 16 booing Biden’s motorcade in Scranton False.