Wednesday’s inauguration of Joseph Biden as the 46th President of the United States had plenty of noteworthy moments, many of which have already been immortalized or broken down on social media. Amid the pomp and circumstance, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders attracted attention in an unexpected way, after photos of him in a practical overcoat and handmade mittens began to surface online. One picture in particular – which showed Sanders sitting in his chair – quickly became a meme in its own right, with many able to photoshop the Senator into a wide array of amusing and pop culture-inspired situations. Plenty of Photoshopped entries have begun to go viral, ranging from Marvel’s WandaVision to Rick and Morty to Godzilla vs. Kong to the Star Wars universe.
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In an interview on Thursday’s episode of Late Night with Seth Meyers, Sanders addressed his recent ascension into meme status, and revealed that it definitely was not something that he would have expected while in the moment.
Tonight’s guest @BernieSanders reacts to the memes about his instantly iconic inauguration look. pic.twitter.com/BrpYJN9V1u
— Late Night with Seth Meyers (@LateNightSeth) January 22, 2021
“Not at all. I was just sitting there, trying to keep warm and trying to pay attention to what was going on,” Sanders explained.
Sanders also went on to highlight Jen Elles, the constituent who made his mittens, and who has received a lot of attention since the pictures first surfaced online.
“Yeah, I’ve seen [the memes],” Sanders revealed. “What was really nice is – the woman who made the mittens lives in Essex Junction, Vermont. She is a schoolteacher and a very, very nice person, and she has been somewhat overwhelmed by the kind of attention that is being shown to her mittens.”
Sanders had a similarly pragmatic outlook on the whole ordeal during an interview with CBS This Morning, where he argued that his priority was more on keeping warm than anything else.
“Well, you know, in Vermont, we dress warm — we know something about the cold, and we’re not so concerned about good fashion, we want to keep warm, and that’s what I did today,” Sanders revealed.
What do you think of Bernie Sanders’ reaction to his Inauguration Day outfit becoming a meme? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!
