US: Joe Biden sparks social media fury after calling Satchel Paige as 'great negro'; Watch

On Thursday, US President Joe Biden sparked outrage on social media when he referred to baseball legend Satchel Paige as a "great negro."

Biden said this during a wreath-laying ceremony at the 'Tomb of the Unknown Soldier' to commemorate Veteran's Day. Biden seems to have stumbled over his words while narrating a story about the great pitcher's time playing in the Negro National League, a baseball league made up of teams comprising African Americans and Latin Americans during the 1920s that disbanded in the late 1940s, reported news agency Sputnik. 

"I have adopted the attitude of the great negro at the time, pitcher in the Negro Leagues, went on to become a great pitcher in the pros, in the Major League Baseball after Jackie Robinson, his name was Satchel Paige," Biden said as he began his speech. The video of his speech was shared on Twitter by the Breaking911 News outlet.

The video clip of Biden's speech quickly went viral on Twitter and other social media platforms, with users questioning his choice of words while referring to Paige. Since being shared on November 11, the video has accumulated more than 5,700 retweets and the numbers are still increasing.

Besides, it also gathered a plethora of comments from people. Reacting to the video, one of the users wrote, "Imagine if trump says this [sic]."

"It's pretty obvious he was going to say "great negro league pitcher" and then stuttered. But have fun pretending otherwise! Great trolling material! [sic]," wrote another user.

"Where are the people that called Trump racist every single day? Why are they so quiet? [sic], asked another.

"Wonder what he called Barack in his absence...[sic]," read another comment. 

Have a look at the video here: 

Here are some comments by users: 

More about Satchel Paige

It is worth mentioning here that Leroy Robert Satchel Paige was a well-known baseball player who played in both the Negro League and Major League Baseball for more than five decades. He began his professional baseball career in 1926 with the Negro Southern League's Chattanooga Black Lookouts, and went on to become one of the most well-known and accomplished players in the Negro leagues. Paige was the first Negro League Committee electee to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971. Four years later, he died in Missouri aged 75.

Image: AP