Hunter Biden, in viral social media posts, reclaims his narrative
Hunter Biden, in viral social media posts, reclaims his narrative
Jay Stahl, USA TODAYSat, June 6, 2026 at 2:48 PM UTC
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Hunter Biden was once considered the free-wheeling "Black sheep" of his famous first family: The lost laptop-owning, crack cocaine-using, womanizing recipient of a preemptive presidential pardon.
And Biden seemingly considered all of that when publishing a series of X-rated social media posts on X (formerly Twitter) that poke fun at his past scandals. In doing so, the "Beautiful Things" memoirist is now a public-facing advocate for the arts and sobriety after battling drug and alcohol addiction.
His social media success comes during the same week his stepmother, former first lady Jill Biden, receives mixed reviews for a post-White House memoir, "View from the East Wing," released June 2, and President Donald Trump faces higher disapproval ratings.
Biden is one in a growing group of political family members seeking to distance themselves from the once-rigid confines of defined roles in public life. New York City first lady Rama Duwaji, second lady Usha Vance and first lady Melania Trump, who threatened a $1 billion lawsuit against Biden over Jeffrey Epstein, are among the figures.
Hunter Biden is in the midst of a public rebrand with a series of viral posts.
Jill Biden says she wasn't told about Joe Biden's health before 2024 debate
Biden voyaged in recent months to reclaim his public narrative from Trump. Last month, he joined conservative Candace Owens for a wide-ranging interview on the new Trump foe's hit podcast and appeared for a three-hour sit-down last year on host Andrew Callaghan's "Channel 5" online series. None of his previous attempts at candor have garnered the same public response as the intimacy – and immediacy – of his online posts.
When a reporter for Playboy magazine publicly requested a Q&A, Biden wrote jokingly that "I am not posing nude" because those days are gone. Biden posted a selfie of himself "taken at a super 8 motel off I95" in Connecticut in response to a Brooklyn attorney who said he was part of the "elite oligarch class."
Biden, a painter who considers himself a "contemporary artist," clarified that he meant to call Trump immigration czar Stephen Miller a "sadistic, infantile ugly" expletive, not to be confused with just "ugly," in another viral post. Biden also wrote that "I've never stolen an erection in my life" after one user misspelt election.
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He also made clear that crack cocaine was his drug of choice, not meth. "I know this may sound petty, but I can't stand it when people ... photoshop a meth pipe in my mouth," Biden responded to one AI-generated graphic.
"A crack pipe doesn't have that little bowl at the end," he explained, later wading into cultural debates about artificial intelligence. "This is why we can't trust AI. Please make the appropriate edit." He ended the sarcastic diatribe by borrowing Trump's own tagline, "Thank you for your attention to this matter."
Hunter Biden has slammed CNN critic Jake Tapper
Biden has utilized his growing following, featuring more than half a million X accounts, to defend his family. He slammed CNN's Jake Tapper, a critic of his father, days after the anchor published a negative review of Jill Biden's new tell-all, in which she waved off concerns about former President Joe Biden's mental state and fitness for office.
Neilia Hunter Biden, the biological mother of Hunter Biden, died in a Delaware car accident at age 30 on Dec. 18, 1972. Hunter's sister, 13-month-old Naomi, the namesake of his 32-year-old eldest daughter, was also killed in the crash.
Shortly before leaving office, former President Biden announced that he had pardoned his son, who was convicted of three federal gun felonies and federal tax charges.
The younger Biden said in a post-pardon statement that he took "responsibility for my mistakes during the darkest days of my addiction – mistakes that have been exploited to publicly humiliate and shame me and my family for political sport."
"In recovery, we can be given the opportunity to make amends where possible and rebuild our lives if we never take for granted the mercy that we have been afforded," Biden added.
Contributing: Rebecca Morin, Fernando Cervantes Jr.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hunter Biden's X-rated tweets go viral
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
