Joe Biden: Bernie Bros meet the Doobie Brothers.

Not really. Well, sort of.



During a phone call with supporters on Friday, the former vice president referred to hardcore Bernie Sanders supporters as "Bernie Brothers," rather than Bernie Bros as they are commonly known.

As Politico reported, "Bernie Bros" is the term often used to describe mostly-male Sanders supporters who are known to viciously attack the democratic socialist's opponents online.

#BernieBrothers was trending on social media

Biden made the reference while warning his supporters against allowing the primary to get nasty in the coming weeks.

"What we can't let happen is let this primary become a negative bloodbath," he told a group of donors. "I know I'm going to get a lot of suggestions on how to respond to what I suspect will be an increasingly negative campaign that the Bernie brothers will run. But we can't tear this party apart and reelect Trump. We have to keep our eyes on the ball, in my view."

The gaffe set off a social media firestorm that resulted in "Bernie Brothers" trending on Twitter Saturday morning with over 7,000 tweets invoking the term and its variation, "#bernardbrothers."

Politico noted that Twitter users poked fun at the "formality behind Biden's description," with some even joking to trademark the term and print t-shirts with it.

"Sounds like a 50s folk band," wrote one Twitter user. "Bernie Brothers sounds like an artisanal bath products made in Bushwick," said one tweet. "I used to get all my new suits from Bernie Brothers," said another.

'Some really ugly stuff'

The so-called "Bernie Bros" are notorious for their aggressive online campaign tactics. During a Thursday night interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) alleged they perpetrated "some really ugly stuff" against her during the primary.



Warren claimed the "Bernie Bros" went as far as posting the phone numbers and home addresses of minority women who worked for third party groups that endorsed her and not Sanders. The former presidential candidate said this led to an "onslaught of online threats."

"[The Bernie Bros] actually published the phone numbers and home addresses of the two women, the executive director and the communications director [of the UNITE HERE labor union in Nevada]…and really put them in fear for their families," she said.

The New York Post also reported that before Warren decided to drop out from the Democratic primary, Sanders supporters "sent thousands of hateful messages toward the senator." The messages included snake emojis and calls for far-left Democrats to launch a primary challenge against her for staying in the race and not endorsing Sanders.