Top 5 Jill Biden Controversies: From Calling The Latino Community 'Breakfast Tacos' To Controlling Joe

5 of First Lady Jill Biden's Biggest Controversies

First Lady Jill Biden and President Joe Biden have been wed for 47 years. Joe had to ask her five times before she accepted his proposal. The couple tied the knot in 1977. Decades later in his memoir, Promises to Keep, Joe shared details about their bond. He wrote, "She gave me back my life. She made me start to think my family might be whole again." According to Brides, Jill similarly in her memoir, Where The Light Enters, gushed over her love for Joe. "After the disappointment of my divorce, I never wanted to feel so out of control of my heart again. But in the months that Joe and I were dating, that desire ran up against a new reality: I was falling in love." When Joe won the 2020 presidential election, their dreams of serving the nation from the White House were finally realized. However, throughout her tenure as the first lady, Jill has courted various controversies through her words and actions. Here are a few that made scandalous headlines. 

1. Jill's 'Dr.' Title Before Her Name

Jill received her doctorate in education from the University of Delaware in 2007, but renowned editor, Joseph Epstein, advised her to renounce her title because she is not a medical doctor. "A wise man once said that no one should call himself 'Dr.' unless he has delivered a child," wrote Epstein in a scathing Wall Street Journal op-ed in 2020. He penned, "Think about it, Dr. Jill, and forthwith drop the doc." In response, the first lady made an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and said, "It was really the tone of it that I think that -- you know, he called me kiddo." She added, "And one of the things I'm most proud of is my doctorate...I mean I worked so hard for it." According to the official White House biography, throughout the eight years that her husband was vice president of the Obama administration, Jill, who holds two master's degrees, worked as a teacher at Northern Virginia Community College.

2. Jill Criticized For Endorsing Nancy Reagan For LGBTQ+ Rights 

In June 2022, Jill honored former First Lady Nancy Reagan by calling her a source of inspiration for LGBTQ rights. FLOTUS also presided over the stamp unveiling ceremony, complimenting Reagan on how she "made such a difference." “First Lady Nancy Reagan served the American people with grace,” she said. “She understood that the role of first lady came with inherent pitfalls and scrutiny, yet she found the humanity in it all.” However, numerous critics pointed out that despite their friendship with numerous members of the LGBTIQ+ community, the late first lady and her husband, President Ronald Reagan, were openly homophobic and did not adequately confront the origins of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. According to The Independent, when Reagan was the governor of California in 1967, he dismissed a group of people he perceived as a "homosexual clique" from his office. He allegedly described homosexuality as a 'sickness' and an 'abnormality'. “This ceremonial postage stamp unveiling was timed to commemorate Mrs Reagan’s centennial and was scheduled the day before the opening of the Ronald Reagan Institute building in DC,” the First Lady’s office later clarified with an official statement.

3. Jill's Controlling Nature Over Joe 

After a disastrous performance during the first 2024 presidential debate, POTUS has been criticized and asked to 'step down' from the presidential race by many. Simultaneously, many also accused First Lady Jill of exercising control over her husband's career. They deemed it 'elder abuse' for pushing Joe into continuing with the strenuous campaigning despite his frail health condition. As per ABC News, Elizabeth Alexander, the First Lady's communications director, defended FLOTUS' decision. “As much as any husband and wife team make decisions together that impact their lives, they absolutely do, but as she’s said more times than I can count, politics is his lane...She’s his biggest supporter and champion, because she believes in him, and she fears for the future of our country if it goes the other way. Just as he’s always supported her career, she supports his.” “For all the talk out there about this race, Joe has made it clear that he’s all in,” Jill stated during various rallies. “That’s the decision he’s made. And just as he has always supported my career, I am all in too. I know you are too, or you wouldn’t be here today.”

4. Jill Accused of Racism 

After watching Louisiana State University upset Iowa 102-85 in April 2023, to win the national championship, FLOTUS courted significant controversy by inviting both the losing Iowa women's basketball team and the national champion team to the White House. “I know we’ll have the champions come to the White House, we always do. So, we hope LSU will come,” she said. “But, you know, I’m going to tell Joe I think Iowa should come, too, because they played such a good game. Winners and losers that's good sportsmanship!" As per Nicki Swift, since the majority population of Iowa is White and LSU is Black, Jill's detractors jumped at the chance to accuse her of racism. Tigers star forward, Angel Reese, spearheaded the accusations. "If we were to lose, we would not be getting invited to the White House," Reese told the Paper Route podcast. "I remember she commented that both teams should be invited because it's sportsmanship. And I'm like, 'Are you saying that stuff because of what I did?' Stuff like that, it bothers me." According to ESPN, the Press Secretary to the First Lady responded via X and penned, "The first lady loved watching the NCAA women's basketball championship game alongside young student-athletes and admires how far women have advanced in sports since the passing of Title IX."

5. Jill's Failed Comments Over The Latino Community 

In July 2022, the First Lady gave an inspirational speech at the annual conference of UnidosUS, formerly known as the National Council of La Raza, in San Antonio. However, she made a major blunder by referring to the Latino community as 'breakfast tacos' and mispronouncing the word 'bodegas' as 'bogedas.' "Raul helped build this organization with the understanding that the diversity of this community, as distinct as the bodegas of the Bronx, as beautiful as the blossoms of Miami, and as unique as the breakfast tacos here in San Antonio, is your strength," Jill said. As reported by Reuters, her clichéd speech infuriated the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, who stated that her writers should "take the time in the future to better to better understand the complexities of [Latino] people and communities.” They stressed, “We are not tacos...do not reduce us to stereotypes.” As per CNN, Michael LaRosa, the First Lady's spokesman later apologized, saying, “The First Lady apologizes that her words conveyed anything but pure admiration and love for the Latino community."