Biden not the only one! 6 times world leaders, including Trump, have mixed up names in a public forum

6 times global leaders mixed up names of other political figures publicly

During the NATO Summit on Thursday, July 11, President Joe Biden added to his train of gaffes by introducing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "President Putin." The 81-year-old mixing up Zelenskyy's name with the rival Russian President Vladimir Putin underlined increasing concerns about his cognitive capacity amidst his struggle to stay in the race. However, Biden is not the only world leader who has confused the names of political figures. Even former President Donald Trump and Barack Obama have committed the same blunder. Here are six times world leaders mixed up names publicly.

1. Donald Trump confuses Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with Hungarian PM Viktor Orban

Trump once mixed the name of his favorite leader, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, with President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The former president's slip of the tongue happened during a campaign speech in New Hampshire in October 2023. “There’s a man, Viktor Orban. Did anyone ever hear of him? Trump asked, referring to the Hungarian PM. "He’s probably, like, one of the strongest leaders anywhere in the world. He’s the leader of Turkey,” the real estate mogul added, mistakenly complimenting the Turkish head instead of Orban.

2. Barack Obama mixes up UK Chancellor George Osborne with R&B singer Jeffrey Osborne

During his presidency, in 2013, Obama confused the name of the then British Conservative Chancellor George Osborne with musician Jeffrey Osborne. While the chancellor was briefing G8 leaders on tax avoidance, the 44th POTUS interrupted him three times, calling him "Jeffrey." Obama apologized after the gaffe went viral, saying, "I'm sorry, man. I must have confused you with my favorite R&B singer." However, it led to a friendly Twitter exchange where the musician suggested a duet with the British chancellor, who quipped Jeffrey would not have proposed "If he heard him sing."

3. Joe Biden muddles French President Emmanuel Macron with predecessor Francois Mitterrand

Biden undoubtedly is no stranger to mix-ups, and the same happened earlier this year related to his French counterpart. The 81-year-old, who witnessed a dozen French presidencies in his lifetime, confused the current President, President Emmanuel Macron, with former President Francois Mitterrand. Addressing his supporters at a Las Vegas rally in February, the president recounted a story about the 2021 G7 Summit in England, where he got confused with the head of France. “Right after I was elected, I went to a G7 meeting in southern England. And I sat down and said, ‘America is back!’ and Mitterand from Germany — I mean France — looked at me and said, ‘How long you back for?’” Biden said. Mitterand, the longest-serving president of France, was in the Elysee Palace from 1981 to 1995 and died in 1996 when he was 79 years old.

4. Donald Trump jumbles the names of Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi

At a campaign rally in New Hampshire this January, Trump mistakenly blasted his then-GOP opponent, Nikki Haley, instead of Democrat Rep Nancy Pelosi. The former president, while discussing the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot for no reason, bashed Haley, the UN ambassador during his presidency, instead of Pelosi, the House Speaker during the insurrection. “Nikki Haley, you know they, do you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it. All of it, because of lots of things like Nikki Haley is in charge of security," Trump said to the crowd. "We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guard, whatever they want. They turned it down. They don’t want to talk about that. These are very dishonest people."

5. Benjamin Netanyahu mistakenly refers to the UK's Boris Johnson as Russia's Boris Yeltsin

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also a member of the gaffe club. During a cabinet meeting speech in 2019, he mistakenly said the name of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who died in 2007, instead of his then-British counterpart Boris Johnson. "I've returned from a very pleasant visit in London, where I've met with Prime Minister Boris Yeltsin and the US defense secretary," Netanyahu said. Nevertheless, he quickly corrected the mistake. The Israeli prime Minister's office also tried to edit the blunder from the video published on social media.

6. Boris Johnson accidentally thanked Vladimir Putin instead of Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Biden is not the only president who confused Zelenskyy with Putin. Former British Prime Minister Johnson made a similar verbal slip-up in September 2022, nearly half a year into Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While speaking at the House of Commons as an MP, Johnson thanked the Russian president for his "inspirational leadership" instead of Zelenskyy. Thanking the "heroism" of Ukraine's armed forces, he said, "Thanks also, of course, to the inspirational leadership of Vladimir Putin." Johnson, who immediately recognized the mistake, added,  "The inspirational leadership of Volodymyr Zelenskyy, forgive me, the Russian forces have, in recent days been expelled from large parts of the north-east of the country around Kharkiv."