BIDEN: TURKEYS GET BOOSTED, NOT BASTED
President pardons pair of gobblers, continuing tradition
WASHINGTON
It was Peanut Butter and Jelly time at the White House.
Two turkeys — named Peanut Butter and Jelly — were pardoned by President Joe Biden on Friday during this year’s annual turkey pardoning ceremony.
“Turkey is infrastructure,” Biden joked as he stood behind the vociferous birds in the Rose Garden. “Peanut Butter and Jelly are going to help build back the Butterball,” he added, a play on his “Build Back Better” slogan for his presidential agenda.
“Peanut Butter and Jelly were selected based on temperament, appearance and I suspect vaccination status,” Biden said as the turkeys gobbled. “Instead of getting basted, these two turkeys are getting boosted.”
Peanut Butter and Jelly were raised by turkey farmer Andrea Welp in Jasper, Ind.
At a news conference Thursday, Welp said the two were trained to tolerate media attention and loud noises as her two children often played loud music around the gobblers.
Peanut Butter and Jelly will go on to live in Purdue University’s Animal Science Research and Education Center, where, according to the school, they will have access to a “shaded grassy area” and stay away from anyone’s Thanksgiving table.
While traditionally only one of the two turkeys is officially pardoned, Biden went ahead and granted mercy to both. Biden pardoned Peanut Butter first, saying he “should be able to uphold his duties, and also, hereby in case that changes, I am going to also pardon his alternative, Jelly.”
Recognizing next week’s holiday amid the pandemic, Biden said, “It’s important to continue traditions like this to remind us how from darkness there’s light and hope and progress, and that’s what this year’s Thanksgiving, in my view, represents.”