President Biden mixed up a New Zealand rugby team and a historic British occupying force of Ireland on Wednesday during a speech at the Windsor Bar in Dundalk.
Biden brought up the topic after mentioning his tie, which was given to him by distant cousin Rob Kearney.
Kearney is an Irish rugby player whose team recently beat New Zealand’s All Blacks.
“This was given to me by one of these guys, right here,” Biden said Wednesday. “He was a hell of a rugby player. He beat the hell out of the Black and Tans.”
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The Black and Tans were a British law enforcement group that helped occupy Ireland beginning in the 1920s.
The paramilitary organization became known for particular brutality toward dissident Irish citizens — the Black and Tans remain a common cultural symbol of the occupation years.
An official transcript from the White House quietly covered up the gaffe, replacing the Black and Tans reference with the All Blacks.