News Opinons Politics

Joe Biden Recounts Nearly Wrapping a Chain Around a Gang Leader Named Corn Pop’s Head

Joe Biden told a harrowing story during an event in 2017 about facing down a razor-wielding gang leader named Corn Pop in his youth by threatening to “wrap” a chain around the man’s head. The incident came back into the spotlight over the weekend when footage of Biden’s remarks began circulating social media.

The former vice president, who has come under scrutiny in recent weeks for embellishing portions of his personal and political life, told the story when being honored with having a community pool named after him in a Wilmington, Delaware, historically black neighborhood. Biden had reportedly been the only white lifeguard at the pool during the early 1960s when segregation was still in effect.

The event started with Biden discussing how his time as a lifeguard had opened his eyes about racial injustice and privilege. It, however, quickly took a strange turn when Biden, flanked by children from the local community, decided to recount a nearly violent altercation he had at the pool with a misbehaving swimmer.



House GOP slammed by conservatives for joining Dems on controversial ‘kill switch’ amendment
Trump keeps Macron under spotlight as Greenland talks grind forward from Davos
Dem. Rep. Melts down Over Boy, 5, Rescued by ICE – But Where Was She When Biden Left 300k Kids to Sex Trafficking and/or Abandonment?
She Hurt for Him: Priceless Video Shows Woman Behind Jack Smith Looking Like She’s in Physical Pain as GOP Reps Repeatedly Expose Him as Fraud
Trump Yanks ‘Prestigious’ Board of Peace Offer from Canada After War of Words at Davos
Venezuelan national accused of claiming control over Arizona community, threatening residents: report
Former Uvalde school officer says he doesn’t regret actions after not guilty verdict
J6 Cop Coughs Vulgar Curse to Republican Rep During Jack Smith Hearing
Liberal activist groups organize Minneapolis high schoolers to protest against ICE
Border Patrol union chief touts high morale despite clashes with agitators: ‘They are patriotic’
WATCH: Former ICE director reveals what goes into agency’s decisions on cities to target
Democrats push to blacklist ICE officers from future government jobs
NEA insider blows whistle on ‘toxic’ culture and far-left politics inside teachers union: ‘It’s a cult’
Trump Forces the Fake News to Stare at the Mugshots of Violent Illegal Criminals Caught By ICE
GOP Barely Passes DHS, ICE Funding Thanks to 7 Democrats Who Defied Their Party

“Corn Pop was a bad dude, and he ran a bunch of bad boys. Back in those days, to show how things have changed … if you used pomade in your hair, you had to wear a bathing cap,” Biden said. “He was up on the board and wouldn’t listen to me, so I said ‘Hey, Esther, you, off the board or I’ll come up and drag you off.’”

Corn Pop, according to the former vice president, did not take kindly to being called “Esther” — an “emasculating” reference to the 1950s swimmer Esther Williams, as the Washington Post noted — and promised to “meet” him outside. Biden realized he had to take Corn Pop seriously when he purportedly saw the gang leader waiting around for him with three other guys carrying straight razors.


House GOP slammed by conservatives for joining Dems on controversial ‘kill switch’ amendment
Trump keeps Macron under spotlight as Greenland talks grind forward from Davos
Dem. Rep. Melts down Over Boy, 5, Rescued by ICE – But Where Was She When Biden Left 300k Kids to Sex Trafficking and/or Abandonment?
She Hurt for Him: Priceless Video Shows Woman Behind Jack Smith Looking Like She’s in Physical Pain as GOP Reps Repeatedly Expose Him as Fraud
Trump Yanks ‘Prestigious’ Board of Peace Offer from Canada After War of Words at Davos
Venezuelan national accused of claiming control over Arizona community, threatening residents: report
Former Uvalde school officer says he doesn’t regret actions after not guilty verdict
J6 Cop Coughs Vulgar Curse to Republican Rep During Jack Smith Hearing
Liberal activist groups organize Minneapolis high schoolers to protest against ICE
Border Patrol union chief touts high morale despite clashes with agitators: ‘They are patriotic’
WATCH: Former ICE director reveals what goes into agency’s decisions on cities to target
Democrats push to blacklist ICE officers from future government jobs
NEA insider blows whistle on ‘toxic’ culture and far-left politics inside teachers union: ‘It’s a cult’
Trump Forces the Fake News to Stare at the Mugshots of Violent Illegal Criminals Caught By ICE
GOP Barely Passes DHS, ICE Funding Thanks to 7 Democrats Who Defied Their Party
See also  Maine’s bipartisan brand of political nepotism

In his 2007 autobiography, Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics, Biden admitted that he specifically signaled out Corn Pop for violating the pool’s rules to show he “wasn’t an easy mark.” The former vice president also wrote that his first instinct was to call the police, but he was convinced by the pool’s mechanic, a white former Navy sailor named Bill Wright, that doing so would ensure he would never be trusted by the neighborhood’s black community. Instead, Wright suggested Biden confront Corn Pop and the others with “a six-foot length of chain.”

Biden, as he described in his autobiography, took the advice, walked outside, and said, “You might cut me, Corn Pop, but I’m going to wrap this chain around your head before you do.”

“I looked at him, but I was smart then,” Biden told the audience in 2017. He said he told Corn Pop, “first of all, when I tell you to get off the board, you get off the board, and I’ll kick you out again, but I shouldn’t have called you Esther Williams. I apologize for that. … I apologize for what I said.”


House GOP slammed by conservatives for joining Dems on controversial ‘kill switch’ amendment
Trump keeps Macron under spotlight as Greenland talks grind forward from Davos
Dem. Rep. Melts down Over Boy, 5, Rescued by ICE – But Where Was She When Biden Left 300k Kids to Sex Trafficking and/or Abandonment?
She Hurt for Him: Priceless Video Shows Woman Behind Jack Smith Looking Like She’s in Physical Pain as GOP Reps Repeatedly Expose Him as Fraud
Trump Yanks ‘Prestigious’ Board of Peace Offer from Canada After War of Words at Davos
Venezuelan national accused of claiming control over Arizona community, threatening residents: report
Former Uvalde school officer says he doesn’t regret actions after not guilty verdict
J6 Cop Coughs Vulgar Curse to Republican Rep During Jack Smith Hearing
Liberal activist groups organize Minneapolis high schoolers to protest against ICE
Border Patrol union chief touts high morale despite clashes with agitators: ‘They are patriotic’
WATCH: Former ICE director reveals what goes into agency’s decisions on cities to target
Democrats push to blacklist ICE officers from future government jobs
NEA insider blows whistle on ‘toxic’ culture and far-left politics inside teachers union: ‘It’s a cult’
Trump Forces the Fake News to Stare at the Mugshots of Violent Illegal Criminals Caught By ICE
GOP Barely Passes DHS, ICE Funding Thanks to 7 Democrats Who Defied Their Party
See also  Newsom posts himself as ‘Sparkle Beach’ Ken Barbie doll in clap back at Bessent

The apology seemed to diffuse the situation, much to Biden’s relief.

“He said ‘okay,’ closed his straight razor, and my heart began to beat again,” the former vice president said.

The story came back into the spotlight on Saturday after numerous individuals shared clips from the 2017 pool dedication on social media. Many of those seeing the clip for the first time immediately accused the former vice president of fabricating the story. Most notably, Michael Harriot, a senior writer for The Root, took to social media to blast the story as “alien-like.”


House GOP slammed by conservatives for joining Dems on controversial ‘kill switch’ amendment
Trump keeps Macron under spotlight as Greenland talks grind forward from Davos
Dem. Rep. Melts down Over Boy, 5, Rescued by ICE – But Where Was She When Biden Left 300k Kids to Sex Trafficking and/or Abandonment?
She Hurt for Him: Priceless Video Shows Woman Behind Jack Smith Looking Like She’s in Physical Pain as GOP Reps Repeatedly Expose Him as Fraud
Trump Yanks ‘Prestigious’ Board of Peace Offer from Canada After War of Words at Davos
Venezuelan national accused of claiming control over Arizona community, threatening residents: report
Former Uvalde school officer says he doesn’t regret actions after not guilty verdict
J6 Cop Coughs Vulgar Curse to Republican Rep During Jack Smith Hearing
Liberal activist groups organize Minneapolis high schoolers to protest against ICE
Border Patrol union chief touts high morale despite clashes with agitators: ‘They are patriotic’
WATCH: Former ICE director reveals what goes into agency’s decisions on cities to target
Democrats push to blacklist ICE officers from future government jobs
NEA insider blows whistle on ‘toxic’ culture and far-left politics inside teachers union: ‘It’s a cult’
Trump Forces the Fake News to Stare at the Mugshots of Violent Illegal Criminals Caught By ICE
GOP Barely Passes DHS, ICE Funding Thanks to 7 Democrats Who Defied Their Party


House GOP slammed by conservatives for joining Dems on controversial ‘kill switch’ amendment
Trump keeps Macron under spotlight as Greenland talks grind forward from Davos
Dem. Rep. Melts down Over Boy, 5, Rescued by ICE – But Where Was She When Biden Left 300k Kids to Sex Trafficking and/or Abandonment?
She Hurt for Him: Priceless Video Shows Woman Behind Jack Smith Looking Like She’s in Physical Pain as GOP Reps Repeatedly Expose Him as Fraud
Trump Yanks ‘Prestigious’ Board of Peace Offer from Canada After War of Words at Davos
Venezuelan national accused of claiming control over Arizona community, threatening residents: report
Former Uvalde school officer says he doesn’t regret actions after not guilty verdict
J6 Cop Coughs Vulgar Curse to Republican Rep During Jack Smith Hearing
Liberal activist groups organize Minneapolis high schoolers to protest against ICE
Border Patrol union chief touts high morale despite clashes with agitators: ‘They are patriotic’
WATCH: Former ICE director reveals what goes into agency’s decisions on cities to target
Democrats push to blacklist ICE officers from future government jobs
NEA insider blows whistle on ‘toxic’ culture and far-left politics inside teachers union: ‘It’s a cult’
Trump Forces the Fake News to Stare at the Mugshots of Violent Illegal Criminals Caught By ICE
GOP Barely Passes DHS, ICE Funding Thanks to 7 Democrats Who Defied Their Party
See also  Noem and Lewandowski waged campaign to oust Trump’s border leader: Sources

Although Biden’s retelling of the altercation was corroborated at the dedication ceremony by a former chairman of the Delaware NAACP, those unaware of the fact agreed with Harriot that the story seemed comically embellished if not totally concocted.

Biden, himself, has not done his credibility any favors in recent weeks by downplaying his fabrication of an emotional story about the war in Afghanistan, even after the Post debunked nearly every detail.

Story cited here.

Share this article:
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter