Karine Jean-Pierre's Never Heard Of One Direction, BOTCHES Niall Horan's Name In Awkward Press Briefing
March 17 2023, Published 2:30 p.m. ET
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre surprised reporters by admitting she has never heard of the popular boy band One Direction, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The awkward incident took place on Thursday as President Joe Biden’s press secretary announced that former One Direction heartthrob Niall Horan would be visiting the White House on Friday to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
Even more awkward was when Jean-Pierre mispronounced Horan’s name.
“Niall is a multi-platinum-selling singer-songwriter who has toured the globe, including with One Direction,” Jean-Pierre said during Thursday’s press briefing. “I'm going to keep my comments to myself on One Direction, I don't know who they are.”
“We're all excited to be celebrating that tomorrow here at the White House,” she continued after eliciting a series of laughs from the reporters in the room. “And so I'm sure you guys will all be celebrating with us and the rest of the country.”
According to Daily Mail, Horan is scheduled to perform during the White House’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities on Friday evening following a meeting between President Biden and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Jean-Pierre’s claim she has never heard of One Direction, as well as her mispronunciation of Horan’s surname, is just the latest blunder committed by President Biden’s press secretary in recent weeks.
In February, while providing a press briefing on an unidentified flying object shot down by United States military forces over Canada, Jean-Pierre struggled to explain the situation and how the U.S. military was able to intercept a target in Canadian territory.
"Because it's part of uh NORAD. The NORAD is uh part of like a, uh part of a, it's a – it's uh what you call a coalition and so that's why we were able to do that," she tried to explain.
"Again, we didn't do it on our own, we did it in uh – in uh clearly, in uh, in step with Canadia – Canada.”
Never miss a story — sign up for the RadarOnline.com newsletter to get your daily dose of dope. Daily. Breaking. Celebrity news. All free.
Never Miss an
Daily updates from the heart of Hollywood, right to your inbox
By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you’re agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Jean-Pierre came under fire again earlier this week when she was asked about the president’s current border policy and Biden’s purported plans to reintroduce the practice of family detention against immigrant families caught trying to illegally enter the U.S.
"What we’re going to promise is that we’re going to do this,” she explained, although Jean-Pierre’s response was deemed a “total nonsense word salad” by critics.
“We're going to move forward with a, with this kind of system, this immigration system, that has been gutted, really truly gutted, by the last administration."
