Did he mean Joe 2020, or was he announcing a long-shot bid for the presidency in 28,311 years time? Here’s how the gaffe played out

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Delivering what must have been one of the most cryptic gaffes of his career, Joe Biden managed to spark mass confusion during the final moment of the latest Democratic debate, after he urged viewers to visit a website that doesn’t exist.

Delivering his final remarks after the nine other candidates, Biden laid out his 2020 vision before telling those watching: “If you agree with me, go to Joe 30330” – referring to a phone number.

Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) Joe Biden either thinks he's going to be alive in 30330 or he has no idea what his own website is... pic.twitter.com/WqrZhquYmY

Biden, the current frontrunner in the Democratic race, had already come under fire from all sides of the debate stage, with Cory Booker taking him to task over his record on criminal justice in one of the most tense confrontations of the evening.

Biden came out to fight – and then the desperate brawlers turned on him | Richard Wolffe Read more

At one point, Biden was even the target of members of the audience, with protesters chanting “three million deportations!” – a reference to the number of deportations of unauthorized immigrants under Obama, under whom he served as vice-president.

Just before the debate started, he also raised eyebrows, after leaning in to Kamala Harris and saying “go easy on me, kid”, referencing her blistering attack on him during the first round of debates last month.

After the debate got under way, he also said the government should “cherry-pick from the best of other cultures” when it came to immigration, and favor those with PhDs. This was slammed by Cory Booker, who said: “That’s playing into what the Republicans want, to pit some immigrants against other immigrants. Some are from shithole countries and some are from working countries.”

If this wasn’t bad enough for Biden already, his “30330” comment at the very last moment made him the target of mockery across social media.

At first people were mostly confused:

Jesse Lehrich (@JesseLehrich) me trying to go to JOE 30330 pic.twitter.com/Xa8Bf1KWM9

Abby Loisel (@AbbyLoisel) “Go to JOE 30330” i am S C R E A M I N G

It didn’t take long for people to guess what Biden might have meant:

LyndaIBelieveWoolard (@LyndaWoolard) Think that was supposed to be text Joe to 30330, @JoeBiden. #DemDebate2 #DemDebate

Bret Baier (@BretBaier) Internet seems confused with @JoeBiden asking people to go to Joe30330-- we have cracked the case-- it is TEXT Joe to 30330. #MysterySolved pic.twitter.com/esSBP0tRHq

This was confirmed by the Biden campaign, which tweeted what the former vice-president should have said in big letters soon after the debate finished:

Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) I just got off the stage where I shared my bold vision for our future built on uniting our country. Because I know if we work together, there’s nothing we can’t do.



Let's keep our momentum going. If you liked what you heard tonight, text JOE to 30330 and let's get to work. pic.twitter.com/EDIKTYiJB1

This didn’t stop people making fun of Biden, however. “We’re LIVE with full debate coverage on Comedy Central at 30330pm!” tweeted The Daily Show. And tellingly, the Biden campaign, clearly in firefighting mode, took time to respond to it:

Team Joe (@TeamJoe) We'll tune in, but make sure you text JOE to 30330 😎 https://t.co/IWe7uONuje

Despite its best efforts, Biden’s campaign couldn’t contain the gaffe, with Stephen Colbert and others quickly picking it apart:

The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) "Go to Joe 30330. Send an evite to Scranton Joe 1942 at https://t.co/Z8ZqBxYuA8. Then ring up Pennsylvania-6500 and ask for Lulu, she’ll show you a grand old time.” #DemDebate2 #LateShowLIVE pic.twitter.com/5ke3hksOdV

Justin Wedes (@justinwedes) Aid: Tell them at the end to text JOE to 30330

Biden: OK. Go to https://t.co/RkzpZ1x5i1



No, Joe. Text JOE to 30330. It’s a text msg group



Got it. Send a text to JOE30330



No.



Text JOE to 30330@hotmail.com



No.



AOL Keyword JOE3030

Fax a cover sheet to 303-303-3030

Oh f@$# it.

Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) Joe Biden not knowing the difference between a website and a text number. Yikes.

On top of this, sites riffing off “Joe 30330” began cropping up, with opportunists taking advantage of the gaffe:

Tanya Sichynsky (@tanyasic) https://t.co/jtLkCSFE8i redirects to biden's site https://t.co/JHoOHuzVpi redirects to mayor pete's sitehttps://t.co/YHbH79Sykp redirects to ... some guy named joshhttps://t.co/GKSxCBzqia goes to ... a real estate co. https://t.co/y8OkKqhgyP is unclaimed, go get 'em tigers pic.twitter.com/2WkGIVc0nT

Biden is currently leading the Democratic field for 2020, with a recent poll putting him eight points ahead of his closest rival, Elizabeth Warren. However, after a bruising debate, many will be paying close to his campaign’s momentum over the following days.