Biden calls Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama ‘Japanese boy’ in odd compliment

2021-04-16

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President Biden on Friday awkwardly hailed Masters golf champion Hideki Matsuyama as a “Japanese boy” during a press conference in the Rose Garden with Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

Matsuyama, 29, won the Masters Tournament on Sunday at Georgia’s Augusta National Golf Club.

“Yoshi, I know how proud you are — the people of Japan are — and you’ve got a Japanese boy coming over here and guess what? He won the Masters. He won the Masters. He won the green jacket,” Biden said in the Rose Garden.

“And Matsuyama was the first Japanese player to take home that green jacket at the Masters tournament this week. So let me say congratulations to Japan as well on that feat.”

Biden’s description of the celebrated golfer turned heads online.

“Hideki Matsuyama is 29. Joe Biden just called him a ‘Japanese boy.’ To the Japan PM’s face,” one viewer wrote on Twitter.

“Did Biden just use the term ‘Japanese boy’ to describe a grown ass man? oof,” wrote another.

Biden and Suga spoke privately about tensions with China and also about a rise in reported anti-Asian prejudice in the United States, they told reporters in the Rose Garden.