FACT CHECK: Did Joe Biden Announce Looting Would Be Renamed ‘Justice Shopping’?

Elias Atienza | Senior Reporter

An image shared on Facebook purportedly shows a Fox News chyron about President Joe Biden announcing looting would be renamed “justice shopping.”

Verdict: False

There is no evidence Biden announced such a measure. The fake Fox News chyron originated from the show “Real Time with Bill Maher” as satire.

Fact Check:

The image appears to show a chyron from a Fox News broadcast that reads, “Biden: Looting To Be Renamed ‘Justice Shopping.'” Included in the supposed report is a photo of Biden and picture of a Target store seemingly being looted.

There is no evidence Biden announced the renaming of looting to “justice shopping.” Searching for the phrase in the presidential actions, briefing transcripts, speeches and press releases available on the White House website yielded no instances of the president proposing a measure to that effect. Factba.se, which has a database of Biden’s public remarks, also doesn’t have any record of it.

A search of the Fox News website did not yield any results for articles about Biden announcing the renaming of looting or a segment showing the chyron. The supposed Fox News chyron doesn’t appear on the video-clip editing service Grabien, either.

The fake chyron originated from a segment on comedian Bill Maher’s show “Real Time with Bill Maher.” The segment, in which he criticizes some Fox News reporting and spoofs several chyrons, can be found on Maher’s verified Facebook page. (RELATED: Has No Democrats Condemned Recent Riots?)

“Would you like to see some of the ones they have for next week? Because it’s just getting worse, I mean, look at this one,” Maher said, before presenting satirical chyrons such as “Trump Border Wall To Be Melted Down For Giant Statue Of Colin Kaepernick” and “Dr. Fauci: Babies In The Womb Must Wear Masks.”

Biden has condemned looting as a presidential candidate and as president. In early June 2020, amid protests sparked by George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody, Biden said during a speech, “There’s no place for violence, no place for looting or destroying property or burning churches or destroying businesses,” according to a video posted on YouTube by ABC News.

After the fatal police shooting of Daunte Wright, Biden said April 12 in remarks: “In the meantime, I want to make it clear again: There is absolutely no justification – none – for looting, no justification for violence. Peaceful protest, understandable,” a White House transcript shows.

Elias Atienza

Senior Reporter
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