Joe Biden shares controversial response to Super Bowl theories: "Just like we drew it up"

Washington DC - US politics without crazy conspiracy theories is like the Super Bowl without a halftime show, and this year, right-wing Republicans managed to lump both together. Now, Joe Biden has addressed the theories with a sense of humor – but not everyone appreciated the joke.

President Joe Biden adopted his "Dark Brandon" meme persona to troll right-wing conspiracy theorists who suggested that the Super Bowl was rigged by his campaign.
President Joe Biden adopted his "Dark Brandon" meme persona to troll right-wing conspiracy theorists who suggested that the Super Bowl was rigged by his campaign.  © Collage: TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP & Screenshot/X/joebiden

The Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII 25-22 in overtime against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night, and it was all a set-up – at least if you ask the odd conspiracy theorist or Trump supporter.

The reasons for this absurd assumption?

The Chiefs have fallen out of favor with many staunch conservatives, as star tight end Travis Kelce has been dating superstar Taylor Swift for several months now. She, in turn, dared to express her support for Biden during the election four years ago.

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Many conservatives feared that Swift could use the Super Bowl as a stage for renewed election advertising, and the particularly conspiracy-prone even believed that the entire football spectacle would be influenced in favor of the supposedly Biden-friendly Kansas City.

And the president himself didn't even bother to convince the Trump ultras otherwise, and he clearly didn't want to dignify the absurd assumptions with a serious response. Instead, he opted for a slightly different reaction.

Late on Sunday evening after the Chiefs' victory, the 81-year-old – or rather, his social media team – posted a meme of himself on X (formerly Twitter) showing the Democrat as "Dark Brandon."

President Biden attempts to troll conspiracy theorists

Taylor Swift endorsed Joe Biden (r.) in the 2020 election, and her influential support has been a target of both the current president and his presumed opponent, Donald Trump.
Taylor Swift endorsed Joe Biden (r.) in the 2020 election, and her influential support has been a target of both the current president and his presumed opponent, Donald Trump.  © Collage: Screenshot/Instagram/taylorswift & Anna Moneymaker / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

The photoshopped image depicting the president smiling with red lasers shooting out of his eyes has been circulating the internet for some time. Now, Biden has made use of the meme himself.

"Just like we drew it up," the photo's caption read, alluding to the theories that suggested the game was rigged for the Chiefs.

While many appreciated the trolling of it all, others found the post to be tone-deaf given the situations Biden is currently facing as a political leader – particularly Israel's relentless bombardment of Gaza that has left over 28,000 dead and triggered a horrific humanitarian crisis.

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Even if the reactions to the somewhat atypical Biden post were quite varied, it certainly made waves. Within a few hours, the photo received more than 333,000 likes and was viewed more than 65 million times on the platform.

The post came shortly after Biden joined TikTok – featuring the Dark Brandon meme as the profile photo – with a video also poking fun at the theories, further highlighting the campaign's attempt to adopt Gen-Z's casual internet culture.

Of course, Swift did not endorse Biden after the Chiefs' victory, but the star remains embroiled in the election discussion as the president's expected competitor, Donald Trump, has preemptively lashed out at the possibility – arguing she would never do something so "disloyal" to him and allegedly vowing a "holy war" against her if so.

Cover photo: Collage: TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP & Screenshot/X/joebiden

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