Oregon man who said ‘let’s go Brandon’ to Biden on Santa Tracker call says he was joking

Father of four, Jared Schmeck now says he was only joking when he added “let’s go Brandon!” to the end of a live streamed NORAD Santa Tracker phone call with President Biden and the First Lady on Christmas Eve.

The Central Point, Oregon man told The Oregonian, “It was merely just an innocent jest to also express my God-given right to express my frustrations in a joking manner.” The Schmeck family was surprised to be patched through directly to the President after thinking they would just get through to an automated message when they called. “We just waited on hold and then they answered,” he said. “And I thought, ‘wow, this is real’,” Schmeck remarked.

The President and Schmeck discussed the gifts Schmeck’s children were hoping to receive for Christmas, and when the First Lady Jill Biden wished the family a merry Christmas, Schmeck replied, “I hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas as well,” adding, “Merry Christmas and Let’s go Brandon!”

The president responded, “Let’s go Brandon, I agree,” after which the call seemed to end abruptly. The Schmecks claim they were disconnected, and did not hang up on the president. After the call, Schmeck’s wife, Amanda, posted on Instagram, “My husband may or may not have just told joe and jill biden [sic] ‘let’s go Brandon’ on the phone” along with two crying emojis.

Jared Schmeck posted a video the family had captured of the call taking place in their childrens’ bedroom, captioning the YouTube video, “We called NORAD and they patched us to the President! Let’s go Brandon! I had no idea this was being livestreamed at the time!”

In spite of the social media posts, Schmeck insists he was not insulting the president by using the phrase, which has gained popularity as code for “f— Joe Biden” after a crowd chanted the latter at a Nascar event earlier this year in the background of a news report, and the reporter seemingly covered up the expletive by remarking that the crowd was chanting “let’s go Brandon.”