At President Biden’s White House celebration of the Louisiana State University women’s basketball team, the festivities took a turn for the worse when freshman forward Sa’Myah Smith fainted while Biden was delivering his remarks.
The President was left standing at the lectern in the East Room for around six minutes while Smith was taken care of and wheeled out of the room. After the event carried on, Biden mentioned that this wasn’t the first time a guest had fainted, as there is a doctor’s office located within the White House.
Smith, who hails from DeSoto, Texas, played in all 36 games for the Tigers, racking up 4.6 points per game as the team won its first ever championship last month. In the wake of the incident, this came after the First Lady Jill Biden had accidentally snubbed the team by suggesting that the runners-up, the University of Iowa, should also be invited.
Tigers forward Angel Reese, whom the President had mistakenly referred to as “Angela” before correcting himself, was hugged by Jill Biden at the event, after she had expressed her doubts about attending due to the faux pas. Reese even went as far as to point out that Jill Biden had been barred from visiting the LSU players in the locker room before the championship game.
Biden attempted to make amends on Friday, praising Reese for making tickets to the women’s games more costly than the tickets to the men’s games. As he spoke, Biden mentioned he had four granddaughters, which was a subtle snub of his four-year-old granddaughter, Navy Roberts, whom his son Hunter had fathered out of wedlock.
The event occurred during a period of tense negotiations over the debt ceiling between the President and House Republicans, which the Treasury Department warns could lead to a federal debt default as soon as next week.
Biden is set to leave for his trips to Camp David and Delaware for the Memorial Day weekend, though House Democrats have criticized him for doing so.
Budget director Shalanda Young, who is a top White House negotiator, was present at the LSU event, as was Rep. Garret Graves of Louisiana, who is one of the Republican negotiators. Biden made mention of Young, remarking that she had left the budget talks to be there.