USC football coach Lincoln Riley trending after State of the Union speech

Viewers of the State of the Union address thought they heard President Joe Biden say the name of USC coach Lincoln Riley during his speech

USC football coach Lincoln Riley has been a trending subject of conversation online in the hours since President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union address, and after an apparent gaffe when delivering the speech to Congress.

In a back-and-forth with Republican opposition over the contentious subject of illegal immigration into the country, the President mentioned the recent killing of Laken Riley, a woman who was killed while jogging on the Georgia campus, allegedly by an undocumented immigrant from Venezuela. 

But in the process, the President appeared to bungle the name of the victim, which sounded instead like that of the Trojans head coach.

“Lincoln — Lincoln Riley,” Mr. Biden appeared to say, showing a button bearing Ms. Riley's name that Republicans passed out before the speech. “An innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal.”

The President continued: “That’s right, but how many of the thousands of people are being killed by legals.”

“To her parents, I say, my heart goes out to you, having lost children myself. I understand,” Mr. Biden said.

Mr. Biden’s prepared remarks did not include any reference to the victim of the killing, so the exchange appeared to be improvised in the moment.

The remarks caused widespread reaction from the President's critics, including sports commentator Clay Travis.

"Joe Biden just confused Laken Riley, a college student killed by an illegal immigrant, with USC football coach Lincoln Riley," he said on X/Twitter. "This just happened. Incredibly disrespectful."

After the gaffe, Mr. Biden moved the subject back to finding a solution to the ongoing issues at the border.

"We can fight about fixing the border, or we can fix it. I'm ready to fix it," Biden said. "Send me the border bill. Now."

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