A CNN panel on Friday slammed former Vice President Joe Biden's attempt to use humor to play down the sexual harassment allegations swirling around the potential Democratic presidential candidate, saying his jokes were "tone deaf" and not funny.
"The former vice president at the top of his speech made what he thought to be a joke," said host John King. "He embraced a union president, a man, walked over to the microphone and said, 'I asked permission beforehand'."
"It seemed really off tone, tone deaf," King added. "I'm being kind when I say that."
"It's the discipline question, it's a question of this political tone deafness," said the Daily Beast's Washington bureau chief Jackie Kucinich. "Yeah, that's a Joe Biden who would probably do very well on the campaign trail. It's just whether he can he help himself from these other Bidenisms."
"He was joking around on stage, but it just wasn't funny. It didn't land the way he intended," added Politico's Eliana Johnson. "If coming out and talking to reporters is one of his strengths, why did he wait a week to do it?" She added that his video response "looked like it was shot on a GoPro" and that he had "let others control the narrative, to his detriment."
"Even when he's trying to apologize, he's still defending himself and some of his actions," chimed in Buzzfeed's Tarini Parti. "I think that balance, as he's addressing that issue more and more, could get frustrating for some people if he keeps saying, 'oh but there were hundreds who do like it when I hug them.'"
Watch the video below.
