Politics

Bill Clinton Appears To Fall Asleep During Biden Inauguration

BBC broadcast screenshot from YouTube

Adam Burnett Contributor
Font Size:

Former President Bill Clinton appeared to doze off during Wednesday’s inauguration ceremony for President Joe Biden. 

Video clips posted to Twitter show Clinton, 74, with his eyes shut as the CBS cameras cut to him during the inauguration outside the U.S. Capitol. (RELATED: Bill Clinton Apparently Falls Asleep During Hillary’s Convention Speech)

A male voice in the background remarked “Bill Clinton is absolutely slumped,” in a cellphone recording that quickly went viral. Users attempted to defend Clinton by joking that Biden’s speech was far too long, with one person remarking that “Biden could have cut that speech in half.”

Clinton was seated next to his wife, Hillary Clinton, former Vice-President Mike Pence, and former President George W. Bush. 

Biden, who is 78 and the oldest President to ever be inaugurated, managed to stay awake throughout the course of the ceremony. (RELATED: Biden falls asleep during Obama’s speech on deficit reduction)

Outside of his previous history of falling asleep at campaign speeches, concerns over Clinton’s health have grown in recent years. In 2016, some members of the press wondered if his shaking hands at the DNC were early signs of Parkinson’s disease. Some media organizations even speculated that Trump fell asleep at his own inauguration back in 2017.