Biden tells White House guest to ‘hush up, boy’

President Biden made a happy occasion awkward Monday night after telling a White House guest to “hush up, boy” during an event marking the Islamic holiday Eid al-Fitr.

During the lively reception commemorating the end of Ramadan, Biden teased the audience with what he promised would be the “quickest speech I ever made in my life” ahead of scheduled 6 p.m. prayers.

But when an unidentified audience member continued to talk over him, the president’s mood turned.

“You want to come and make a speech?” the 80-year-old Biden asked the guest.

“‘Hush up, boy,’ as my mother would say.”

The flashpoint came after the attendee had called out to Biden, “We also have the first federal judge — Muslim federal judge. The only one” after the president failed to recognize the jurist earlier in his remarks.

“Hey, Judge, how are you?” Biden dutifully replied.

“I don’t know why you wanted the job, man. I appoint all those federal judges, but, you know, thank you for serving.  I’m not kidding.”

When the audience member who pointed out the judge kept talking, Biden fired back with his “hush up” admonition.

After rebuking the guest, Biden extolled Ramadan as “a time to slow down, reconnect, and remember what matters most.”

The president’s cheeky comeback drew laughs from the audience, but the exchange comes just a few months after Biden sparked controversy by referring to Maryland’s first black governor, Wes Moore, as “boy” in a speech.

“You got a hell of a new governor in Wes Moore, I tell ya,” Biden said before referencing Moore’s college football-playing days. “He’s the real deal, and the boy looked like he could still play. He got some guns on him.”

The president has frequently used the word “boy” to refer to younger politicians, though he took flak on the campaign trail for using the term to describe his ability to work with segregationist senators.

“I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,” Biden said at a 2019 Manhattan fundraiser, referring to the white supremacist senator from Mississippi. “He never called me ‘boy,’ he always called me ‘son.’”

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), then competing with Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination, rebuked him in a statement, saying: “You don’t joke about calling black men ‘boys.’”

Monday night’s reception was also marred by an incident involving a New Jersey mayor who was barred from the gathering by the Secret Service.

In a statement, the White House confirmed that Prospect Park Mayor Mohamed Khairullah was not able to enter the premises, but declined to comment further.